


Pumpkin Scythe Ver. 2

by BlankSoraShiro



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Pollination
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-02-27 15:52:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlankSoraShiro/pseuds/BlankSoraShiro
Summary: "She marches forward with the silver will-o-the-wisp. Even if her eyes are burnt... even if her arms are ripped off... she will not stop her march... While being guided by the will-o-the-wisp... she is determined to get into point blank range without regard to self-protection. the sound of footsteps that abounds her life... the trigger that brings death... 601-Cursed Grimm Hunter."





	1. Chapter 1: The Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of the previous Pumpkin Scythe using the new information we have gotten over the past couple of seasons. The few chapters will be the same with a few tweaks and grammar corrections.

Roman Torchwick decided that now would be a good time to rob a dust store where a certain brunette with red tips was inside; a decision he wouldn’t live long enough to regret.

Roman and his hired help entered the dust shop and walked up to the old man who was at the counter. “Alright, old man this is a robbery. We’ll be taking all of your dust, so just shut up and stay out of the way and we’ll be out of your hair in no time, and you won’t be hurt.”

Seeing that the old man understood Roman turned to his goons and said, “Alright boys start getting all the dust in both crystal and powder form.”

One of the goons went to collect some powdered dust he noticed a girl in a red cloak. He walked up to the girl and said. “Hey, Girly?”

When he didn’t get an answer, he grabbed the girl’s shoulder and turned her around.

Ruby Rose was standing in the dust shop listening to music when the goon grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Ruby was dressed in her usual attire but had a shoulder holster holding a large pistol, that looked too large for someone of Ruby’s size, under her right armpit, and had a silver lantern on her right hip with a lever to open some shutters on the lantern, and _601-CGH_ printed on it.

The goon noticed the headphones and pointed to his ears. Ruby understood the gesture and removed her headphones. “Are you robbing me?” Ruby asked noticing the weapon he was holding.

The goon grunted. “Yes.”

“Oh,” Ruby replied.

The goon and Ruby went through one of the shop’s front windows. Hearing the crash, Roman turned to the other three goons and said, “Go see what that is.”

The three goons ran outside to see Ruby standing over their comrade. They raised their machine guns, but Ruby was quicker and shot one of the goons with Crescent Rose, sending him into the wall. The other two opened fire on her. She easily avoided the bullets. She then closed the distance between her and the two goons and cut them down.

Roman walked out of the shop and said, “Worth every cent, truly you were.”

Ruby got into a fighting stance, and he said, “Sorry, Red but I must be going.”

Roman raised his cane and fired an explosive round at her. She avoided it by launching herself into the air. When Ruby came back down, she found Roman gone and looked around. She quickly found him climbing the ladder on the side of a building.

Ruby reached the roof of the build Roman was climbing to find him in a bullhead. Roman tossed a fire crystal at her’s feet and shot at it. Ruby closed her eyes crossing her arms in front of her face, bracing herself for the explosion. Ruby heard the explosion, but never felt it. She opened her eyes to find Glynda holding up a purple glyph protecting Ruby from the explosion.

“We got a huntress,” Roman said and switched with the pilot of the bullhead.

Ruby fired a few rounds at Cinder, who blocked the shots with her hand. She scowled and thought about opening her lantern, but decided to hold off on it.

Glynda made a hailstorm above the bullhead causing ice shards to rain down on it. Roman moved his head to avoid an ice shard that went through the windshield.

Cinder cast five fire glyphs beneath Glynda’s and Ruby’s feet. Glynda jumped backward to avoid it, while Ruby jumped forwards.

 _Alright,_ _now it’s time to bring out the big guns._ Ruby thought as she stood up. She collapsed Crescent Rose and holstered it. Ruby grabbed the pistol in her shoulder holster; the grip was so thick Ruby’s fingers barely touched each other. She pulled the pistol from the holster with her left hand.

Ruby’s pistol was called Door Knocker and was a single shot break open to reload. It fired over-pressurized 14.7-millimeter ammunition. She loaded it with a High-Explosive Armor Piercing (HEAP) rounds.

Ruby used her right hand to pull her hood up. Afterward, she used the same hand to grab the small lever on her lantern and pulled it down, opening the lanterns shutters, allowing an eerie silver light to shine. When Ruby opened the lantern her eyes fully opened, and her pupils constricted, while the silver light from the lantern and the shadow cast by her cloak made the silver lantern light cast her body and eyes in an eerie silver glow.

Cinder’s eyes widened in surprise. Glynda could only see Ruby’s back, but could still see the glow of the lantern that illuminated the area around Ruby.

Ruby started to walk towards the bullhead, and Cinder cast a fire glyph beneath Ruby’s feet. Ruby ignored the glyph and kept walking. When the glyphs went off, it missed her as she had already walked out of the glyph. Cinder scowled and cast three fire glyphs in front of Ruby, creating three columns of fire that made a wall in front of Ruby. She kept walking right into the wall of fire as if it wasn’t even there.

The two older women’s eyes widened in shock as Ruby walked into the wall of fire, and their eyes widened even further as Ruby emerged from the wall of fire unfazed by it, even though her clothes were slightly burnt, and there were a couple of places on her clothes that were still on fire.

Ruby raised her pistol and pointed it at Cinder, who was surprised when a wave of fear washed over her. Ruby fired. The sound of the gunshot caused Glynda to flinch slightly as the sound hurt her ears. Cinder moved her head to the left, avoiding the bullet as it flew past her and through the metal hull of the bullhead.

Ruby placed her middle finger on a curved piece of metal that extended from the trigger guard and squeezed it. Door Knocker broke open just past the trigger guard and the spent round ejected from the pistol with a trail of smoke. She rolled her left sleeve up, revealing a leather ammo gauntlet filled with ammo. She loaded a new round into the pistol. When Ruby placed her right hand on Door Knocker to close it, smoke came from under Ruby’s hand as she did.

Ruby continued to walk forward. Cinder raised her hand and sent a torrent of flames at the girl. Glynda snapped out of semi-shocked state and hit Ruby forward. The torrent of flames missed Ruby, going over her head as she tumbled to the edge of the roof, a small wall around the edge of the roof.

“Let’s go.” Cinder ordered Roman.

The jets of the bullhead turned from vertical to horizontal and started to fly off. When the bullhead started to leave Ruby vanished into a flurry of red rose petals that turned into small silver flames before dissipating. Ruby reappeared in the air on the left side of the bullhead. Inch and a half long metal claws extended from the fingers of her right hand. She slammed her right hand into the side of the bullhead, digging her claws into the hull.

Cinder heard the bang of her’s hand hitting the hull of the bullhead and peeked her head out to see what caused the noise. Her eyes widened in surprise to see Ruby clinging onto the side of bullhead.

With Door Knocker still in her free hand, Ruby pressed its barrel against the hull of the bullhead. Cinder was confused as to why she was aiming at the ship instead of her until she looked back inside the bullhead. Her eyes widened when she saw several crates of dust, which were in-line with the bullet line of Ruby’s pistol. On instinct, Cinder jumped out of the bullhead. Just as she jumped out of the bullhead, Ruby pulled the trigger.

There was a half-second delay between Ruby pulled the trigger and the explosion of the bullhead.

The explosion engulfed the whole bullhead and Ruby while pushing Cinder away; almost sending her off the roof she wanted to land on. Glynda gasped and covered her mouth, able to see the explosion, as the bullhead only went a few blocks before it exploded and dropped to the ground in a burning pile of scrap metal.

Glynda quickly ran over to the crash site in search of finding the young girl alive, completely forgetting about the unknown woman.  She searched the surrounding area of the crash site figuring, and praying; Ruby was thrown from the explosion instead of being caught inside. Glynda let out a sigh of relief as she found Ruby sitting against the side of a nearby building.

The right side of Ruby’s blouse and cloak were burned, and blood covered Ruby’s right torso. Her aura had stopped the bleeding. Glynda couldn’t see her right arm as she was using an unburned part of her cloak to cover it up. “Are you okay?” Glynda asked approaching Ruby.

“Yeah,” Ruby said rising to her feet wincing slightly. “Aura took care of most of the damage, just a few small pieces of metal that need to be removed and my aura can take care of the rest.”

“You sure?” Glynda asked.

“Yes,” Ruby replied.

“That’s good, but you’re going to have to come with me,” Glynda said.

“Am I in trouble?” Ruby asked.

Glynda could tell Ruby already knew the answer to her question. “That is to be determined.”

Ruby shrugged and muttered. “That’s better than I usually get.”

“Did you say something?” Glynda asked not hearing what Ruby muttered.

“Nothing,” Ruby said.

Glynda took Ruby to Beacon to be questioned. When they entered the room Glynda from in her tracks, and Ruby bumped into her, causing Ruby to wince slightly. In the room was Headmaster Ozpin sitting across from a woman with short white hair, hazel eyes, and glasses. The woman was dressed in a black blouse and skirt under a white lab coat. “Hello, Glynda it’s been a while.” The woman said with a small smile of amusement.

“Yes, it has been a while, Dr. Schwarz,” Glynda replied with a small forced smile.

“Hello, 601.” Dr. Schwarz said leaning her head to the side slightly to get a better look at Ruby. “You’re injured. What happened?”

“Exploding bullhead filled with a few crates of dust,” Ruby replied.

“Come I will patch you up.” Dr. Schwarz said, standing up from the table.

“You can’t just walk in here and take her out of here. Do you know what she just did? Not to mention you have some explaining to do as well Doctor.” Glynda said glaring at Dr. Schwarz.

“Yes, I am aware of the fact that 601 killed Roman Torchwick and his associate.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Ah, the woman jumped out of the bullhead before it exploded.” Ruby corrected cautiously, knowing she was now officially in trouble.

“Did you get a good look at the person’s face?” Glynda asked.

Ruby nodded.

Glynda opened her mouth to speak, but Ozpin cut her off. “Glynda. I realize your feelings for Dr. Schwarz and her… practice is quite negative, as well as are my own.” Ozpin saw Ruby lower her head and frown. “But we shouldn’t let our own feelings towards the doctor stop her from treating her patient.”

“After I finish treating Ruby’s injuries you can talk to her all you want Glynda.” Dr. Schwarz said and grabbed Ruby’s hand, taking her to another nearby room.

Glynda gave an angry huff and said. “I can’t believe that woman. Using a kid for her experiments.”

Ozpin didn’t say anything and just took a sip of her coffee. He had a feeling that there was more to Ruby’s story than it appeared, and he would have to ask Taiyang or Crow about it if Dr. Schwarz didn’t tell him. He knew her well enough to know even she wouldn’t use a child for her experiments without a good reason.

In the infirmary, Ruby was sitting on a bed with her burned cloak folded up next to her on the bed, while her burned, and ruined, blouse and sports bra were in the trash. Dr. Schwarz was sitting in front of her with a wet washcloth in hand, taking a few seconds to look over Ruby’s toned muscular body that even Yang’s couldn’t hold a candle to. Dr. Schwarz cleaned the blood off of Ruby’s torso. Ruby winced slightly as the water and cloth stung her open wounds, but it was nothing she was not used to.

Ruby’s body was covered in scars. She had a three-clawed diagonal scar that went from her left shoulder to her right hip, a burn scar that covered her left bicep, a jagged scar on her right side of her stomach. Her back had a five clawed scar going horizontally across the middle of Ruby’s back, eight bullet entry wound scars, and a thin straight vertical scar from Ruby’s right shoulder blade to her waist. Though Ruby’s must noticeable scar was her metal right arm that connected at her shoulder.

Dr. Schwarz finished cleaning the blood off of her and picked up some tweezers. “This will sting a bit.” Dr. Schwarz said with a small smile.

Ruby snorted in amusement knowing it was false. Ruby’s face cringed in pain and gripped the bed sheets tightly as Dr. Schwarz removed the metal bullhead fragment. As Dr. Schwarz removed the fragments from the wound Ruby’s aura activated, healing the wounds without a scar.

After Dr. Schwarz had removed all the fragments from Ruby’s body, she looked at Ruby’s right arm. “Looks like the explosion took off most of the fake skin. I’m going to run a diagnostics test on it to make sure it wasn’t damaged.” Dr. Schwarz said. “Try as I might I still haven’t made a prosthetic arm that can take the same kind of punishment your body can.”

“Is that a compliment?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, your arm is different than that of commercial prosthetics that you see on people. The material and process that I use are different and far more complicated.” Dr. Schwarz said and attached a few cables to input/output ports located under a layer of metal that she slid out of the way.

Dr. Schwarz attached the other end of the cables to her scroll. The screen showed a digital image of Ruby’s metal arm and several rectangles with loading bars. After the loading bars had shown 100%, the box turned green, showing that the arm was in perfect condition.

“Your arm is in good condition.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“That’s good,” Ruby said.

Dr. Schwarz took out an unmarked spray can from her coat pocket, and shook it, before spraying Ruby’s right arm. The skin seemed to spray onto Ruby’s arm as Dr. Schwarz sprayed Ruby’s arm. After Dr. Schwarz had finished spraying her arm it looked like a regular arm. There was barely a difference between her arms, except for the fact that there was a lack of fingernails. Dr. Schwarz took out a small case of short fake nails. She opened the case and put the fake nails on Ruby’s hand, sliding into place perfectly as the hand was designed.

“There, good as new.”  Dr. Schwarz said.

Ruby flipped her right hand over a couple of times before bringing her left hand up next to it. Ruby’s right hand looked pristine, while her left hand had callouses, a couple of small scars, and nails that have seen better days. “Better than the other.” Ruby sadly joked.

Dr. Schwarz felt a pang of sadness go through her heart, which for some unknown reason Ruby was the only person to really bring out such emotion. There was something special about Ruby that let her breach any walls that a person puts up and get there heart, even if it’s just a little. Dr. Schwarz couldn’t understand what it was about Ruby that made her so special. She knew it wasn’t her silver eyes and the legend behind them, which they knew was true, and it wasn’t the fact that Ruby was part of the “Cursed 6” either. But Dr. Schwarz knew that whatever it was it truly was something special, and she wanted to find out what it was.

“How is your sister?” Dr. Schwarz asked, changing the subject.

Ruby instantly smiled brightly at the mention of her sister. “She’s doing great. She got accepted into Beacon.”

“That’s good for her. Beacon is a good school.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Yeah, though she has been talking about getting her hair cut short,” Ruby said.

Dr. Schwarz was surprised by the news. “You are talking about your older half-sister Yang right? Long blonde hair that goes ballistic if even a single strand of it gets cut?”

“Yeah, but she has been talking about it for four months now, so I doubt she has any intentions of actually doing it,” Ruby replied.

“Hm.” Dr. Schwarz nodded in understanding.

If Dr. Schwarz remembered correctly, Ruby had an injury four months ago that left her bedridden for a couple of weeks. Dr. Schwarz checked her scroll for the file. She found the file and opened it revealing that the injury she was thinking of was a broken right leg, which caused her to have to stay in bed for three weeks to recover. Dr. Schwarz knew that to Ruby being confined to a bed and not being able to move was basically torture to her.

“Let’s get you back to Ozpin and Glynda; they don’t like to be kept waiting.” Dr. Schwarz said standing up.

“I still need a shirt,” Ruby said.

Dr. Schwarz took off her lab coat and handed it to her. Ruby sighed and put on the lab coat on, buttoning it up. Dr. Schwarz smiled in amusement as her lab coat hung very loosely on Ruby as she was almost a foot taller than the younger girl. Ruby pouted at her smile as she knew that the lab coat made her look even younger and smaller, as her arms were too short for the sleeves and the tail of the coat dragged across the floor. Ruby scooped up her cloak in her arms, and they went back to the room Ozpin and Glynda were waiting in.

When Ruby and Dr. Schwarz walked back into the room, and Glynda and Ozpin saw Ruby they gave a puzzled look.

“My clothes were ruined, and I had nothing else to wear,” Ruby said.

“Please have a seat, Miss Rose,” Ozpin said gesturing to the seat across from him.

Ruby sat down in the chair and noticed a plate of cookies. She looked at Ozpin, who gave a barely noticeable nod and grabbed a cookie. Ruby took a bite out of the cookie waiting for Ozpin to say something, while praying it didn’t involve the words “you”, “are”, “going”, and “prison”; though the words “isolated cell where you’ll never see the light of day again” crossed her mind.

Ozpin pulled up a video of Ruby using her Crescent Rose. “Now where did you learn how to use one of the most dangerous weapons in Remnant?” Ozpin asked.

Dr. Schwarz cleared her throat getting everyone’s attention. “If you’re going to criticize my work at least give it the proper recognition.”

“Are you sure that you want to be known as the woman who made the most dangerous weapons in the world?” Ruby asked.

“They are the most dangerous weapons.” Dr. Schwarz said. “It also means they are the most powerful.”

“Anyways,” Ozpin said shooting Dr. Schwarz a glare for interrupting, “can you tell me where you learned to fight like this. The only person I know who uses this kind of weapon is a dusty old crow…”

“That’s my Uncle Qrow; he taught me, so I don’t have to keep relying on the Doc’s weapon so much,” Ruby replied.

“So do you attend classes at Signal?” Ozpin asked. Usually, he would have access to that kind of information, but it appeared that Dr. Schwarz had hidden, or erased, any information on Ruby after her eighth birthday.

“Define attend,” Ruby replied.

“Are you currently enrolled in Signal and take classes there?” Ozpin clarified.

“Well I was actually expelled from Signal on the first day, but I still sneak into the classes,” Ruby replied sheepishly.

“Why were you expelled from Signal?” Glynda asked.

“Well some guys were picking on a faunas girl, and I tried to get them to stop, but wound up getting into a fight with them instead. I didn’t have a lot of practice with Crescent Rose by then, so I was still relying on Door Knocker and the lantern to fight with. And long story short I wound up breaking a couple of their bones and putting them in the hospital for a week. Later that day I was suspended then expelled a few days later.” Ruby answered.

“I see,” Ozpin said and took a sip of his coffee to contemplate Ruby’s answer.

“I think 601 should start attending Beacon this year.” Dr. Schwarz said.

Dr. Schwarz statement got mixed reactions. Glynda looked at her like she had lost her mind. Ruby looked at her surprised. Ozpin looked at her curiously.

“Why do you think that?” Ozpin asked.

“When I was treating 601’s wounds she informed me that her half-sister, Yang Xiao Long, is going to be attending Beacon. My research has shown that 601’s relationship with her sister is quite a positive one to 601. If Yang was to move away from 601 to Beacon, it would be detrimental to 601’s health, and she helps her deal with the side effects.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“What kind of side effects are you talking about?” Glynda asked.

“Severe nightmares, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“She also helps me with my social awkwardness, but that’s not really a side effect of the lantern,” Ruby added.

“I see. Well, when you put that way it is hard to say no to the kind of request.” Ozpin said.

“Sir, you can’t be serious. Letting one of Dr. Schwarz’s monster attend Beacon would be a disaster and a danger to the students.” Glynda said.

“Glynda.” Ozpin scowled.

Glynda couldn’t figure out what she did wrong until she remembered Ruby and that Glynda had inadvertently called Ruby a monster. Glynda quickly turned to Ruby to apologize but was stopped when Ruby casually said, while reaching for her sixth cookie. “Relax, it’s not like I haven’t heard it a hundred times before already. Besides, I already consider myself a monster, and would say it’s a pretty accurate description.”

Ozpin and Glynda were surprised by Ruby’s words and felt sad that a young girl like her would consider herself a monster. They turned to look at Dr. Schwarz, who said. “She signed a contract with a warning of what to expect.”

“It’s better than being confined to a bed for the rest of my life, or dead, so I can’t really complain,” Ruby said.

Ozpin opened his mouth to ask what she meant but felt he had had enough depressing information for one day. “Alright, I think that’s enough for the day,” Ozpin said standing up. “Welcome to Beacon Miss Rose.” Ozpin then turned and left the room.

Glynda sighed and followed Ozpin out the door a few seconds later.

“What just happened?” Ruby asked confused by why Ozpin would suddenly end it there.

“Just someone who has seen the evilness of this world a few times too many.” Dr. Schwarz said.

Ruby nodded in understanding. _The world can certainly seem ugly at times… especially through theses cursed eyes of mine._

 


	2. Chapter 2: Orientation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Yang arrive at Beacon. Ruby and Dr. Schwarz have a talk

“I can’t believe my sister is coming to Beacon with me,” Yang said enveloping Ruby into a bone-crushing hug.

“Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t have to lose my light,” Ruby said hugging Yang back.

Yang smiled and couldn’t help but blush slightly.

Yang loved it when Ruby referred to her as her light. It made her feel like the big sister she was trying to be to Ruby while making her feel like the most important person in the world to Ruby.

“Yeah, you’re going to be the bee’s knees for getting into Beacon two years early,” Yang said.

“I don’t want to be the bee’s knees, Yang. I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees. I want four normal years of school. Dust, Yang, just a semester of normal school is all I want.” Ruby replied.

Yang’s face saddened. “I know, I’m sorry.”

Ruby hugged Yang tightly. “Yang, it wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you, I’ve never blamed you. I love you Yang, and I would do it a thousand times over if it meant you are safe.”

Yang smiled wiping away a small tear. “I’m the older sister, Rubes, I should be, and should have been, the one protecting you not the other way around.”

“Don’t worry you’ll get plenty of opportunities to repay me, since Headmaster Ozpin forbid me from using my lantern, unless there is no one else around, except for you, or unless there is an emergency,” Ruby said.

Yang grabbed Ruby’s shoulders and with a worried look asked. “He knows? How?”

“Apparently he and Professor Goodwitch know Dr. Schwarz.” Ruby replied. “And they aren’t exactly on friendly terms with each other.”

“And they still let you in even though you’re one of the Doc’s… patients?” Yang asked.

“Yeah, I think that even though they don’t like each other, they are still forced to work with each other,” Ruby said. “Just like Doc and yourself.”

“It’s not that I don’t like the Doc, I just don’t trust her,” Yang replied.

“Same thing,” Ruby replied dryly.

“Whatever,” Yang said. “Should we be worried?”

“No, just as long as I follow the rules,” Ruby said.

Yang raised an eyebrow, and the news turned on. The news talked about a Faunus’ rights protest that turned violent after the White Fang got involved. Yang clenched her fist, and her eyes flashed red.

Yang hated the White Fang for what they did to them, to Ruby. They were responsible for the death of Summer, and almost killing Ruby; bed riding Ruby for two years. Yang couldn’t, and wouldn’t, ever forgive the White Fang for that; even if Ruby already killed the man responsible.

Ruby, on the other hand, didn’t feel any real malice towards the White Fang. She couldn’t afford to with the curse of the lantern. Every use of the lantern cost her a bit of her soul, and depending on her feelings when using it can cost her more or less of her soul to use; with hatred, anger, and revenge costing her large amounts of her soul. So if Ruby carried around that hatred for the White Fang, the lantern probably would have devoured her soul by now.

The news moved on from the protest turned violent to other news.

“Infamous criminal Roman Torchwick died during a robbery of a dust shop got interrupted by Huntress Glynda Goodwitch, a professor at Beacon.” The reporter said, showing a mugshot of Roman and a picture of Glynda from the waist up, which was taken the other day.

“Roman had an accomplice that managed to escape the crime scene.” A drawing of Cinder appeared. “If you have any information please contact the police immediately. She is considered armed and dangerous.”

The news changed to Glynda, who announced that they would be landing shortly.

“That’s so cool,” Yang said. “Maybe if we get her as a teacher we can get her to tell us how she beat him.”

“Yeah about that…” Ruby said looking down at the ground.

“You?” Yang asked, instantly recognizing Ruby’s look.

“It’s kind of how I ran into Professor Goodwitch and got into Beacon,” Ruby answered, still looking down.

“Oh Dust, Ruby. Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare? Why didn’t you call me? I would have stayed up talking with you.” Yang said quickly, voice full of concern.

“I’m fine, Yang. Doc gave me a sedative, so I didn’t even dream.” Ruby said.

Yang let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you’re alright, but you really should have called me.”

“I was fine Yang, and I didn’t want you to worry,” Ruby replied.

“I’m your big sister, Rubes,” Yang replied. “It’s my job to worry about you.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t make it easier for you,” Ruby replied smiling.

Yang sighed defeat. “I can’t say no to you.”

Ruby hugged Yang and said. “I’m well aware of that fact and exploit it.”

The airship landed, and a blonde haired boy ran out of the ship and lost his lunch in the nearest trash can. As Ruby and Yang walked past the boy, Ruby gave him a comforting pat on the back but continued walking. After Ruby had a little freak out about all the cool and exciting new weapons she saw, Yang grabbed Ruby and dragged her to the orientation.

Glynda walked out from backstage. “Hello, I am Glynda Goodwitch…”

Glynda introduced Ozpin, and she gave his speech that Ruby paid zero attention to, since the speech was for the general audience and she didn’t really fit in with the general audience.

After Ozpin’s speech, Glynda had dismissed them to the ballroom, Ruby received a message from Dr. Schwarz to visit her in her office.

“Doc wants me to swing by her office,” Ruby said. “Do you want to head to the ballroom and I’ll meet up with you afterward?”

“No, I’ll go with you. I don’t trust her.” Yang said.

“She’s not going to do anything evil, Yang. It’s probably just another check-up.” Ruby replied. “Why do you think she’s the devil reincarnated?”

Yang stopped in her tracks and gave Ruby her “really?” look.

“Okay, so she isn’t a saint. But if she was really bad? Do you honestly think Ozpin wouldn’t have her locked up in jail, or let her teach classes here?” Ruby retorted.

“Wait!? Ozpin is letting her teach classes?” Yang asked, stopping in her tracks in shock. “Like with actual students?”

“Yeah, she is teaching combat practice and will be working in the infirmary,” Ruby replied, ignoring her sister’s shock.

Yang did a quick jog to catch up with Ruby. “And you aren’t the least bit concerned about her teaching a class, more specifically one with students carrying weapons?”

Ruby giggled and said. “Considering I’ve seen her fight. I believe she is more than capable of handling a couple of teenagers.”

“Are you sure?” Yang asked.

“Yang, she made the Cursed 6’s gear and not one has turned on her,” Ruby said. “And I’m the sanest one.”

“Point,” Yang said as they arrived at Dr. Schwarz’s office.

Ruby was about to knock on the door when they heard Dr. Schwarz on the other side of the door say. “Ruby come in, and Yang go to the ballroom like you were supposed to.”

Yang looked at Ruby shocked and mouthed. “How?”

Ruby shrugged and opened the door.

Dr. Schwarz put something in her desk drawer and looked at them. “I thought I told you to go to the ballroom, Yang.” She said.

“No,” Yang said defiantly.

Dr. Schwarz scowled darkly at Yang, who felt all her resolve crumble. “Fine, I’ll wait at the end of the hall.” Yang barely managed to say evenly before leaving the room.

Ruby put her hands on her hips and scowled. “That wasn’t very nice Doc. You could have just asked her nicely, and she would have left.”

Dr. Schwarz waved it off and said. “On to other matters.”

Dr. Schwarz grabbed her scroll and tapped it a few times. “I just sent you information on your team for Beacon.”

“What team? What are you talking about?” Ruby asked.

“When you attend Beacon you get assigned to a team based on the exam you are going to do tomorrow. I have taken the liberty of already making your team beforehand.” Dr. Schwarz answered.

“And how exactly did you pull that off?” Ruby asked taking out her black scroll that she only used for Dr. Schwarz. “Dare I ask?”

“Just a little rigging of the launch system and movement of pieces.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“What the hell kind of test are we taking tomorrow?” Ruby asked opening the file on her team.

“Relax; all the students should be more than capable of handling it.” Dr. Schwarz replied. “You could do it in your sleep.”

“Okay? Doesn’t tell me much.” Ruby said. “Now before I look this file, which I’m assuming is illegal for me look at since I’m not a doctor or an employee of Beacon, is there anything I should know. I know how you like to leave some information out as a surprise to me.”

“Well, you are the team leader.” Dr. Schwarz said casually. “And yes it is illegal for you to look at those files.”

“Why am I the team leader?” Ruby asked shocked.

“Look at those files, and you’ll see why.” Dr. Schwarz said.

Ruby sighed, she was used to Dr. Schwarz illegal activities, but they annoyed her at how blatant Dr. Schwarz is about it. Ruby opened the file she got from Dr. Schwarz titled _Team RWBY_. Ruby looked at Dr. Schwarz with a “really?” look.

“It’s just what the computer came up with.” Dr. Schwarz replied with a small smile.

“Uh huh,” Ruby replied not believing it.

Ruby looked at the file on herself and said. “Wow, this is really detailed.”

“Well, what do you expect? I basically know everything there is to know about you.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ruby switched to Yang’s file. Ruby skimmed the file to see what Yang had lied to her about over the years but stopped when she came across a line that read: _In love with her sister._

“I think you made a slight typo is this file,” Ruby said.

“What do you mean?” Dr. Schwarz asked.

Ruby showed Dr. Schwarz her scroll and pointed to the line. “Well it might not be a typo, but it can be construed as Yang is in love with me romantically, not just sisterly.”

“That’s because she is.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“No, she’s not.” Ruby denied.

“Have you seen the looks she gives you?” Dr. Schwarz asked.

“What looks?” Ruby replied.

“Never mind.” Dr. Schwarz said. “We’ll have to work on your detecting other people’s emotions, though you being a leader should help with that.”

Ruby changed to the next file. “Weiss Schnee? As in the heiress to the Schnee Dust company?”

“Yap.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ruby looked through the file. “Wow, she’s shorter than me.”

“Yeah, but she has a bit of a height complex, so she wears high-heeled shoes.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“How can she fight in high heels, last time I wore them I broke my ankle?” Ruby asked.

“Twisted.” Dr. Schwarz corrected. “And she has had a lot of practice.”

Ruby rolled her eyes.

“Let’s see, perfectionist, superiority complex, and father issues. Sounds fun.” Ruby said, her voice getting drier as she talked.

“You should look at the good things rather than the bad, Ruby.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“I know, and Weiss would make an excellent supporter. But that would happen if she works well with the team, and I can tell you already that her superiority complex is going to drive Yang up a wall. Especially when she starts complaining about me not being right for the leadership role.” Ruby replied.

“The fact that you’re already thinking about how to make this team work only proves that you are fit to be a leader.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Or I just don’t want my sister to go to jail for assault,” Ruby replied dryly before she started laughing.

Dr. Schwarz smiled in amusement and said. “Close enough.”

“Alright let’s see who the last person on my little team is,” Ruby said and opened the last file.

“Blake Belladonna. A cat Faunus that hides her ears with a bow.” Ruby said. “Quick question.”

“Yes?” Dr. Schwarz replied, already knowing the question.

“Are you crazy? Blake is a former White Fang and quit four months ago. The second Yang finds out she will try to kill Blake, and if I’m not around when it happens, I assume Yang will succeed in the act. And last I checked the White Fang, and the Schnee Dust Company weren’t exactly on friendly terms.” Ruby said, somewhat angry, and went back to Weiss’s file. “And look right here it says that Weiss hates the White Fang.”

“I’m well aware of those facts, but it is the best option for Blake to be on this team.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Oh really? Why is that?” Ruby asked.

“647.” Dr. Schwarz answered, and Ruby’s expression went from angry to concern.

“What does he have to do with Blake?” Ruby asked.

“When Blake was part of the White Fang she had a partner. That partner was 647, and she betrayed his trust when she left the White Fang. So now he is on the hunt for her.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“So you decided to put her on a team with me, who he has a hell of a grudge against as well?” Ruby asked.

“True, he does have quite the grudge against you, and his weapon has consumed him…” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Oh, well that’s just dandy.” Ruby interrupted sarcastically.

“However he is still smart enough to know not to take you on… yet.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“So, we have until he thinks he can take me before he attacks. Great.” Ruby said dryly.

“Relax. We have a bit before he makes a move. There is a group that has aligned themselves with the White Fang, and they have a plan. So until said group makes a move we have nothing to fear from 647.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“You’ve mentioned this group of people before, but you’ve never told me anything about them. Who are they?” Ruby asked.

“Classified, and on a need to know basis.” Dr. Schwarz said with a look that told her to drop it.

“Fine. I guess I don’t have much choice in the matter.” Ruby sighed. “I’ll try to keep this team from killing each other, but I can’t make any promises.”

Dr. Schwarz smiled and said. “Of course. I would expect you to in a situation like this.”

“Is this all you wanted to talk about?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, and I want you to keep this conversation between us, which means no telling your sister.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Yeah, I know the drill, Doc,” Ruby replied, and turned to leave.

“Wait.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Huh? What is it?” Ruby asked, thinking Dr. Schwarz forgot something.

Dr. Schwarz got up from her desk and walked over to Ruby. Dr. Schwarz put her hands on Ruby’s head and messed up her hair.

“Hey.” Ruby cried and tried to remove Dr. Schwarz’s hands, only to have her own hands swatted away.

Dr. Schwarz eventually removed her hands from Ruby’s now messed up hair, and reached into her pocket and pulled out a tub of lipstick. While Ruby tried to fix her hair, Dr. Schwarz rubbed the lipstick on her thumb. Dr. Schwarz rubbed her lipstick covered thumb over on Ruby’s lips, smearing the lipstick over Ruby’s lips. Ruby moves away from Dr. Schwarz and tries to rub the lipstick off, but only makes it worse. “What are you doing?” Ruby asked.

“An experiment. Now hold still.” Dr. Schwarz said.

Dr. Schwarz unbuttoned the top three buttons of Ruby’s shirt. Dr. Schwarz then re-buttons the second button through the third button’s hole. Dr. Schwarz looks at Ruby for a few seconds before unbuttoning Ruby’s second button and putting the third buttons through the second button’s hole. “Better.” Dr. Schwarz said. “You can go now.”

“What is this experiment again?” Ruby asked.

“Just a little side project. Don’t worry about it.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Okay,” Ruby replied, giving Dr. Schwarz a questioning look before leaving.

Ruby left the room and saw Yang waiting at the end of the hall looking at her scroll.

“Hey, Yang,” Ruby said grabbing Yang attention.

“Hey, Ruby,” Yang said, with a genuine smile that turned forced when she looked at Ruby. “What did you two talk about?”

“Classified,” Ruby replied.

“Did you just talk?” Yang asked.

“Yes, Yang, we just talked. She didn’t do anything unpleasant.” Ruby replied.

Dr. Schwarz popped her head out of her office. “Ruby, don't forget to come back later so we can finish our _talk_.” Dr. Schwarz said, emphasizing talk.

“Okay,” Ruby said confused since she thought she had finished talking with Dr. Schwarz.

Yang looked at Dr. Schwarz, and her eyes narrowed and flashed red when she saw that Dr. Schwarz’s hair and lipstick was slightly messy.

Dr. Schwarz smiled at Yang’s reaction and said. “You two should hurry to the ballroom before it starts to look suspicious.”

Dr. Schwarz vanished back into her office before Yang could say anything.

Yang huffed and grabbed Ruby’s arm. “Come on Ruby let’s go,” Yang said and dragged Ruby to the ballroom.

After Yang had dragged Ruby to the ballroom, and they settled down in a secluded corner. Yang was snuggled up against Ruby, who was pressed against the wall. Ruby was staring at the wall thinking about how to get her team to work together and how to solve the major problems, though without actually knowing Blake or Weiss she could only speculate solutions and outcomes until Yang asked. “Hey, Ruby, do you think you could ever love somebody romantically?”

“Where did that come from?” Ruby asked, confused as to why Yang would ask that question.

“Don’t know. It just sort of popped into my head.” Yang lied since she couldn’t stop thinking about what Ruby and Dr. Schwarz might have down behind closed doors.

“Why do you want to know?” Ruby asked.

“Just curious,” Yang replied.

“Well, if I were to be completely honest. Yeah, I could love somebody romantically, but nothing would ever come of it.” Ruby replied and looked at her right hand. “My body while only last ten more years at the most if I’m lucky, and that’s only if the lantern doesn’t devour my soul by then. And there is no way I could place the burden of having a romantic relationship on someone that’s doomed to fail miserably from the start. It just wouldn’t be worth it or fair to the other person.”

Yang hugged Ruby tightly from behind. Yang didn’t really know what to say to Ruby without confessing her feelings but felt Ruby’s hand come to rest on top of hers.

“Thank you, Yang, for everything,” Ruby said, letting her know that, even though Yang didn’t know what to say, Ruby still got the message she wanted to deliver.

Yang smiled and kept a tight hold on Ruby as she started to fall asleep, with Ruby falling asleep shortly after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and don't forget to comment, kudos, and subscribe for more Pumpkin Scythe.


	3. Chapter 3: Criminal Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation between Salem's Faction, and a surprise.

While Ruby and Yang were sleeping in the ballroom, in a warehouse by the docks of Vale Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Neopolitan, and Adam Taurus were sitting at a table. Cinder watched the news from earlier that morning where it showed a well-drawn picture of her, and she slammed her hand down the table, leaving an indention in the table. “Fuck, that bitch really screwed up the plan.” Cinder cursed.

“Don’t you have a back-up plan?” Mercury asked.

“Not for something like this. I didn’t plan on Roman dying and me being compromised all at once.” Cinder replied.

“Who was this bitch that managed to kill Roman and expose you all in one go?” Adam asked. “They must be quite the skilled fighter.”

Cinder sighed. “Some little girl with a red cloak and a silver lantern.”

Adam’s eyes widened behind his mask and instantly took out his scroll.

“A little girl got the best of you two.” Mercury laughed.

However, Mercury’s laugh was short-lived as Cinder shot him a glare that made him pale and became filled with fear.

“Did she look like this?” Adam asked, handing his scroll to Cinder.

Cinder took the scroll from Adam and looked at the picture on the scroll. The picture was of a 12-year-old Ruby with torn clothes and cape, covered in blood, with a sword through her right shoulder and multiple cuts, bruises, and burns.

“Yes, that’s her.” Cinder said. “How do you have this picture?”

“That picture was taken three years ago when she attacked a White Fang base,” Adam replied.

Cinder put Adam’s scroll down on the table for the others to see.

Mercury, Emerald, and Neo look at the picture and felt a shiver go down their spines when they saw Ruby’s glowing eyes. Neo stood up and started to walk away, but Adam’s sheathed sword blocked her path.

“Don’t even think about it. She is mine to kill.” Adam said, the glare easy to see even through his mask.

Neo glared back at Adam, and a silent conversation exchanged between the two of them.  Neo reluctantly sat back down with a scowl and muttered a few curses.

“So what is this girl’s name? And how do you know her?” Cinder asked.

“I don’t know her real name, just the one given to her by Dr. Schwarz,” Adam replied. “And as for knowing her, I fought her for all of about ten seconds before she shot me in the face and I blacked out.”

 _Dr. Schwarz…_ Cinder thought but was interrupted by Mercury.

“Is that why are you always wear the mask?” Mercury asked.

Everyone around the table stared at him with a ‘really?’ look.

“What?” Mercury asked.

“I’m starting to wonder why I keep you around.” Cinder replied.

“Numbnuts,” Emerald added on.

“So you know Dr. Schwarz?” Cinder asked.

“I thought you wanted to know about the girl in red,” Adam replied.

“Now I’m more interested in your connection to Dr. Schwarz.” Cinder said.

“Classified,” Adam replied simply.

Cinder glared at him. She didn’t know much about Dr. Schwarz other than her name, she was some sort of genius, and that she had worked for Salem at some point before Cinder joined.

Cinder sighed and said. “Fine, whatever. You’re all dismissed.”

The others were about to question why she wanted them to leave so suddenly until they saw the look on her face that showed she was clearly not in the mood for talking right now.

Mercury opened his mouth to say something, probably something stupid but was cut off by Emerald smacking him in the back of the head. Mercury shot Emerald a glare, but got up from the table quietly and left with the others.

“Adam, send me that picture.” Cinder said, not really looking at Adam.

Cinder’s scroll dinged signaling that she received a message.

After everyone left, a seer came out from around the corner and an image of Salem on its eye.

“This better be important,” Salem glared at her.

“Roman was killed.” Cinder said.

“I’m aware of that fact, and why should I care if that imbecile is dead?” Salem replied.

“She was killed by this person.” Cinder held up her scroll the picture of Ruby that Adam gave her on it.

Salem’s eyes widened in shock, and Cinder could have sworn she saw something else flash through Salem’s eyes. Cinder couldn’t quite place it, but it looked like worry; possibly even fear.

Now Cinder’s curiosity was officially at its peak. Cinder was going to find out who this girl in the picture was and how she could cause someone like Salem to actually feel worried from a three-year-old picture.

“Who is Dr. Schwarz?” Cinder asked.

“Dr. Schwarz is taken care of,” Salem replied.

“Then why is this girl causing problems?” Cinder asked.

“She is nothing more than a remnant. I’ll have her taken care of.” Salem said and ended the connection.

Cinder growled in frustration and slammed her scroll shut.

After Salem had ended the call with Cinder, Salem slammed her hand onto the table in front of her in anger, cracking the glass table top.

 _Fuck. I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with that brat again, but I guess Julie had loved her more than I thought._ Salem thought to herself. _She could prove to be a fatal problem later on._

Salem then grew a devious smile as an idea formed in her head. Salem grabbed her scroll which had the picture of Ruby on it and got up from her chair. She then left the room and made her way through the castle-like fortress that she calls home to an elevator. Salem took the elevator to the lowest level, which was a room about a hundred feet under the fortress.

Salem walked out of the elevator and down a long dimly lit hallway. When she reached the end of the hallway she came to a large metal door made of high-grade onion armor, which is layers upon layers of titanium mixed with a special power to give it high-heat resistance and reactive ability; which basically means the only way through the door is with the passcode. Salem entered the passcode into the keypad on the left, opening the doors. She walked through the doors, and they closed behind her, into a room that had a large wired bulletproof glass wall.  On the other side of the wall was a 20 by 20 room with nothing but a bed in it and several piles of books that reached the ceiling. Sitting on the bed reaching a book was a woman wearing a white cloak with the hood up, and her back facing Salem. Salem rapped the glass drawing the cloaked woman’s attention.

The woman put the book down in her lap, using her thumb to hold the page, and looked at her left wrist. “Is it time for the quarterly visit already?” The woman asked disdain clear in her voice.

“Hello, Summer,” Salem replied calmly.

“So, what brings you down here for an unscheduled visit?” Summer asked, slight curiosity in her voice.

“I have something I thought you might want to see,” Salem said.

Summer turned around, showing her long dark brown hair with red tips that reached past her waist.

Salem saw that she had Summer’s attention and continued. “Like your precious Julie turning your precious jewel into a monster.”

Salem placed her scroll with Ruby’s picture on it against the glass. Summer sat her book down on the bed and walked over to Salem and the scroll. Salem smiled when she saw Summer put her hands to her mouth and tears came to Summer’s eyes.

“So how does it feel to know that the person you loved turn your daughter into a monster?” Salem asked.

Summer slams her fist against the glass, shooting a death glare at Salem. “You have no right to talk about Julie or Ruby like that you, Witch.”

Salem smiled, as it had been a long time since she got a reaction this powerful from Summer. “Stick a nerve did I?”

“I’m done talking to you.” Summer said, and turned around, going back to her bed.

Salem’s smile faded as she knew she wouldn’t be getting any response from Summer anymore. Salem turned to leave the room and glanced back at Summer.

“I’m amazed that you’re still able to love her after everything,” Salem said then left the room.

Summer smiled and pulled out a heart-shaped golden locket from under her shirt. Summer opened the locket revealing a picture of a young Summer Rose, whose hair was down to her shoulders, and a young Dr. Julie Schwarz smiling happily, and Summer had an arm around Dr. Schwarz neck, on the right of the locket. On the left of the locket was an engraving: _To my precious ruby of a Rose, J._

“You’ve long forgotten what love was like, Salem” Summer asked, still smiling.

 


	4. Chapter 4: Ballroom Launch

Ruby’s eyes opened and reached up above her head. Ruby’s hand touched her lantern and Door Knocker, and she let out a sigh of relief. Ruby tried to sit up but found that she couldn’t because of something wrapped around her waist. She looked down seeing that Yang had her arms tightly wrapped her waist. Ruby smiled and looked at her scroll. She saw that she had a little bit of time before they would be forced to get up, so she decided to lay back down and enjoy Yang’s company.

Shortly after Ruby laid back down, she felt Yang’s hands start to move. Ruby figured she was just moving in her sleep until she felt her’s hand slip under her shirt. She felt one of Yang’s hands move upwards, slowly feeling her abs and the scars across her stomach, stopping just short of her breasts. Yang’s other hand slowly went down into her pants, though it stopped when it came across a horizontal scar an inch or two beneath the hem of her pants.

Ruby always felt weird when this happened, as this wasn’t the first time it has happened. Yang’s hands never went past her abs or the horizontal scar, and Ruby wanted Yang’s hands to continue, though she couldn’t figure out why.

Yes, even though Ruby had been through a lot in life the only social interactions being with her sister, her father, Crow, Dr. Schwarz, androids Dr. Schwarz has built, and the people she has killed. So Ruby’s understanding of things like lust and arousal was very, very, very limited; the fact that Ruby was very adamant about not being in love with someone, or being with someone in that way, didn’t help.

After a couple of minutes, Yang pulled her hands away from Ruby’s body and rubbed her eyes, waking up. “Morning Rooby Do,” Yang said groggily, unaware of what just happened.

“Morning. Sleep well?” Ruby asked, getting up and stretching.

“Yeah, you?” Yang replied blushing slightly.

“Yeah, dreamless sleep,” Ruby said happily, unknowingly saddening Yang.

Ruby and Yang packed their things. “Want to get some breakfast?” Yang asked.

Ruby didn’t hear what Yang said as she was too busy looking for the rest of her team. She spotted Weiss at the far end of the ballroom sorting all of her stuff on the floor then putting it all back into her bags. ‘OCD check’ Ruby thought to herself.

Ruby then spotted Blake, who was reading a book by the candlelight with all of her stuff packed sitting next to her. ‘Early Riser check’ Ruby thought.

“Ruby!” Yang almost shouted, finally catching Ruby’s attention.

“Yes, Yang?” Ruby asked.

“You alright, I called your name several times?” Yang replied.

“Yeah, just lost in my thoughts.” Ruby lied easily.

Yang nodded, figuring if it were something serious she would have told her or mention it to Dr. Schwarz later.

“Ready to get breakfast?” Yang asked.

“Yeah, I’m starving.” Ruby smiled.

Yang smiled back.

Later after breakfast, Ruby and Yang headed to the locker room to get ready for the trial.

“So Dr. Schwarz has the trail rigged?” Yang asked.

“Yap, I already know who is going to be on our team,” Ruby replied.

“Don’t you mean your team, team leader?” Yang teased.

“Don’t start, Yang,” Ruby said grabbing Crescent Rose from her locker, already having Door Knocker and her lantern on her.

“Okay, so who is on the team?” Yang asked.

“Not telling,” Ruby replied. “Illegal.”

Yang groaned. “Why did dad have to go to her? I’m sure some other doctor could have helped you.”

“Yang, none of the other doctors had a clue of what was wrong with me or how to fix it. Dr. Schwarz looked at my file and examined me for all of five minutes and figured it out. And I know Dr. Schwarz doesn’t seem like a good person, and I can admit the term illegal isn’t in her vocabulary, but she doesn’t do anything evil. She just experiments with things and people, who agreed to it of course.” Ruby replied.

“Fine, but I still don’t trust her,” Yang said.

“I know, but you trust me don’t you?” Ruby asked.

“Of course,” Yang said, hurt that Ruby would think that.

“And I trust Dr. Schwarz. So you don’t have to trust her just trust me, okay?” Ruby continued.

“Fine,” Yang said defeated; she just couldn’t say no to her sister.

Ruby closed her locker and said. “Let’s go.”

Ruby and Yang walked out to the cliff, walking past Weiss who was walking up to Pyrrha.

“Hello, you’re Pyrrha Nikos aren’t you?” Weiss asked.

“Yes, and who are you?” Pyrrha asked.

“I’m Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust company, and I believe that with my brains and your skills we will make an unstoppable pair,” Weiss replied.

“And I’m Jaune,” Jaune said popping up out of nowhere.

Pyrrha and Weiss both jumped back and almost drew their weapons.

“Who are you?” Weiss asked.

“I’m Jaune Arc,” Jaune replied.

“Well John Arc, do you know it’s rude to interrupt people when they are talking?” Weiss asked, glaring at Jaune.

“Ah, it’s Jaune, not John,” Jaune replied meekly under Weiss’s gaze.

“I don’t care, now leave,” Weiss growled.

Jaune lost his confidence and scampered off.

Weiss took a deep breath and turned to Pyrrha with a smile. “Sorry about that.”

Before Pyrrha could reply a bell sounded to warn them that they have five minutes left before the test began. “It sounds like we should get going,” Pyrrha said.

“I guess we should.” Weiss sighed, hoping to have talked to Pyrrha a bit more, and they left to the cliff.

When Weiss and Pyrrha walked out onto the cliff, Dr. Schwarz assigned them their launch pads, making sure Weiss was positioned next to Ruby, who had Blake and Yang on the other side, while Pyrrha was just placed somewhere.

“You will be launched into the forest you see behind me. There is an abandoned temple in the northern area.” Ozpin said, before being interrupted by Dr. Schwarz.

“An abandoned temple is a bit of a stretch, Ozpin. It’s just a bunch of old ruins in a semicircle with chess pieces as relics.” Dr. Schwarz said, tapping away at her scroll not even bothering to glancing away from it.

Ozpin shot Dr. Schwarz pointed glare, who ignored the glare with ease. ‘Summer’s was better’ Dr. Schwarz thought to herself.

“You are going to retrieve a relic- Chess pieces” Ozpin continued, only to be interrupted by Dr. Schwarz again.

Ozpin huffed angrily and continued. “And bring it back here. As for your partner, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. Good luck.”

The signal sounded for the beginning of the test and everyone, except for Jaune, got into a ready position. Jaune saw the first person get launched and raised his hand. Dr. Schwarz tossed Jaune a backpack out of nowhere. Everyone looked at Dr. Schwarz wondering how they didn’t notice the backpack earlier.

One by one everyone got launched.

After everyone had got launched, Ozpin asked Dr. Schwarz. “Did you actually give him a parachute?”

“What do you think?” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ozpin leaned into Glynda and asked. “Is our insurance up-to-date?”

“Yes, I checked when you asked her to work here,” Glynda replied.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the wait, I had work and got caught up in playing video games. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to comment!


	5. Chapter 5: Test part 1

Ruby calmly soared through the air and looked around for Yang. Ruby spotted Yang at roughly the same altitude as her heading in an intercept course with her, and by Ruby’s calculations, they should land within about 10 feet of each other.

‘Damn, Dr. Schwarz is good.’ Ruby thought to as she started to descend.

Ruby saw the ground coming up fast and extended the metal claws of her right hand. When she passed close by a tree she reached her hand out and stuck her claws into the tree, causing her to spiral around it as she descended the tree.

Ruby’s feet hit the ground and waited the five seconds for Yang to land five feet in front of her.

“Hey, Yang,” Ruby said cheerfully, waving her right hand, which had its claws retracted.

Yang smiled back brightly. “Heya Sis, are you glad I dropped by?”

Yang giggled, and Ruby groaned. “Yang, that was just awful.”

“Ah, come on that was a good one,” Yang replied.

“Not when it was that obvious,” Ruby said.

“Well I guess I can come up with something barker later,” Yang replied with a small smile.

Ruby gave Yang a ‘really?’ look.

“Okay, even I have to admit that was lame,” Yang replied.

“Let’s go and find the other members of our team; it’ll be easier to make sure we get the same pieces if we arrive at the temple together,” Ruby said and started to walk in the direction Blake, and Weiss should have landed.

“Okay, so can you tell me about the other members now?” Yang asked, following Ruby.

“Their names are Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna,” Ruby replied.

“Weiss Schnee? As in Schnee Dust Company?” Yang asked.

“Yap,” Ruby replied.

“I bet she’ll be a real bitch then, thinking she’s all entitled and what not,” Yang said.

“Well, she does have a superiority complex, and will more than likely complain about me being a team leader,” Ruby said.

“Well, if she does, I’ll just have to remind where her place is,” Yang said, punching her open palm.

“I’ll handle any issues that arise from her,” Ruby replied. “Besides it’s not really her fault considering who her dad is. We just have to get her to be her own person and not her dad’s little ‘anything other than what he considers perfect is unacceptable’ girl. So cut her a little slack, okay.”

“Fine, but if she hurts you, I’m killing her,” Yang said.

“Are you forgetting who I am?” Ruby asked, with a small amused smile.

Yang laughed and said. “True, you could probably scare her into pissing her panties with a single glare.”

Ruby giggled. “I think it’s going to take a little more that, Yang.”

“Obviously you have no idea how scary you actually are,” Yang replied.

“I’m not that scary… am I?” Ruby asked.

“You have your moments.” Yang replied, then pulled Ruby into a one-armed huge “But you are usually really cute and adorable.”

Ruby leaned into Yang’s embrace.

“Okay, so tell me about this other guy Blake… Belladonna?” Yang continued.

“Belladonna. And he’s a she.” Ruby said.

“That’s good; I won’t have to worry about threatening to rip his dick off and shove it down his throat,” Yang said.

Ruby giggled at her sister’s overprotectiveness and said. “Glad to hear.”

“Okay, tell me about Blake,” Yang said.

“Well, she is a cat faunas, but hides her ears with a bow in her hair,” Ruby replied.

“Why?” Yang asked.

“Faunas aren’t exactly the most liked people in the world,” Ruby commented.

“Fair enough,” Yang said. “Anything else?”

“Likes books, but other than that I feel that it would be a breach of her privacy,” Ruby said.

Yang stopped, which in turn stopped Ruby too, and gave Ruby a ‘really?’ look.

“Hey, Doc handed me the information and told me to read it. I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.” Ruby retorted.

Suddenly a Beowolf jumped out of some nearby bush at the two young huntresses in training but was quickly shot out of the air by Ruby’s Crescent Rose.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” Yang said, removing her arm from around Ruby.

“Yap,” Ruby replied and changed Crescent Rose into scythe form.

Yang activated Ember Celica and got into a fighting stance

**Over with Blake and Weiss**

Blake landed with a soft thud as she dropped from a tree to the ground. She took a moment to look around her surrounds to make sure that it was safe when she heard rustling come from behind a tree. She quickly drew Gambol Shroud and waited for whoever, or whatever walked out from behind the tree.

Weiss walked out from behind the tree, moving one of its lower branches out of the way, stopping when she saw Blake, who lowered her weapon and grew a look of indifference.

“Who are you?” Weiss asked, disappointed she didn’t get Pyrrha as her partner.

“Blake,” Blake replied passively, though couldn’t help but feel that this was some kind of karmic punishment for her past crimes.

“I’m Weiss Schnee, heiress to the-” Weiss said before being cut off by Blake.

“I know. I’ve seen the news before.” Blake said, growing annoyed at Weiss’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude.

“Then you know I will only accept the best, so I expect the best from you,” Weiss said.

“I didn’t come here to play around Weiss.” Blake retorted.

“Good, now let’s get moving,” Weiss said and turned on her heels to go to the temple. “I don’t want to be out here all day.”

Blake took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. ‘You can do this Blake. You just have to put up with her for four years. Four very long years.’ Blake had thought to herself before she followed Weiss.

**Over with Jaune**

Jaune pulled the chord on the backpack Dr. Schwarz gave him. Jaune was expecting a parachute to come out, but all that came out was a bunch of leaves. Jaune’s eyes widened in terror, and he let out a girlish scream. Jaune started to plummet to the ground, thinking he was going to die until a red spear pierced his hood and pinned him to a tree.

“Thank you,” Jaune called out.

“You’re welcome,” Pyrrha called back and started heading towards Jaune.

**Back with Ruby and Yang**

Ruby finished cutting the last of beowolves in half and turned to Yang.

“That’s all of them,” Ruby said.

“Good.” Yang replied, “Let’s head towards the temple. If Weiss and Blake beat us there, it would be hard to make sure we got the right piece.”

Ruby giggled and said. “Don’t forget that we are being watched, so if they do beat us there Dr. Schwarz will send me a text telling what piece they got.”

“What if someone gets the other piece before us?” Yang asked with a small victorious smirk, figuring she asked a question Ruby didn’t plan for.

“Then I guess we need to hitch a ride then,” Ruby said smiling.

“Hitch a ride? On what?” Yang asked.

Ruby’s smiled grew wider, and she pointed towards the sky. Yang’s eyes grew wider when she saw a large Nevermore flying in their direction, towards the temple.

“You’re not serious are you?” Yang asked.

“I’ve done it before,” Ruby replied. “It’s perfectly safe.”

Yang sighed. “You and me are going to have a talk about personal safety one day.”

“Mmhmm, you coming or not?” Ruby said, ignoring Yang’s comment and started climbing a nearby tree.

**Over with Weiss and Blake**

Weiss and Blake arrived at that the abandoned temple’s ruins without incident. They walked up to chess pieces, and Weiss spoke the first words since they met and left for the temple.

“Which piece do you want?” Weiss asked.

“Whichever is fine,” Blake replied, looking around for Grimm or other students.

Weiss nodded and grabbed the White Knight piece.

“Incoming,” Blake said, seeing a large Nevermore coming up on the horizon.

Weiss turned around and drew Myrtenaster. “Where?”

Blake drew Gambol Shroud and pointed it at the approaching Nevermore.

When the Nevermore got over the clearing that surrounded the abandoned temple Blake and Weiss saw a red and a yellow figure drop from underneath it.

“Incoming!” The red figure shouted as it grew closer to them and the ground.

Weiss and Blake took a step back as the red and yellow figures came closer. The red figure hit the ground and rolled forward a bit before getting to their feet and slid to a stop a few feet away from them. The yellow figure landed on the ground making a small crater.

“Hi, I’m Ruby, and that’s my sister Yang,” Ruby said politely with a cheerful smile.

“Hey,” Yang said, walking up next to her sister.

Weiss and Blake were stunned by Ruby and Yang’s entrance and didn’t respond right away. Weiss was the first to realize that she hadn’t replied yet and quickly shook her head to get rid of the shock.

Weiss smiled back politely, like she had practiced a thousand plus times, and said. “I’m Weiss Schnee and this my partner Blake Belladonna.”

“Hello,” Blake said.

Ruby nodded and walked past the monochrome pair and grabbed the other white knight chess piece, tucking it safely in one of her ammo pouches.

They heard a roar and looked at the edge of the clearing where they saw a Major Ursa appear and roar before collapsing onto the ground, revealing Nora and Ren.

“Is everyone riding Grimm here?” Weiss asked, slightly annoyed by how crazy everyone was acting.

Ruby and Yang just shrugged and said. “I don’t know.”

Nora dragged an exhausted-looking Ren to the “relic” stands and grabbed the white rook piece, and sang cheerfully. “I’m queen of the castle.”

“Let’s go, Blake,” Weiss said and turned to leave when she heard a girlish scream. “What now!?”

Jaune came out of the trees, who was screaming like a girl, followed shortly by Pyrrha. A few seconds later, the trees behind them came down revealing a large Deathstalker.

“Anyone suggest we leave now?” Ren asked.

“Doesn’t someone need to go save them?” Ruby asked.

“I’m guessing you’re volunteering?” Yang replied.

“If no one else is,” Ruby answered.

Jaune and Pyrrha made it to the group, and Jaune fell to his knees panting, with the Deathstalker stopping a cautious distance away.

“Why did it stop?” Yang asked.

“Probably wasn’t expecting its prey to go from two to eight and thinks it’s a trap,” Ruby replied. “Grimm maybe be soulless creatures of darkness hell-bent on ending humanity, but they can be smart soulless creatures of darkness hell-bent on ending humanity.”

“You sound like you know a thing or two about Grimm hunting,” Blake commented.

“One of my previous teachers believed in learning on the job,” Ruby replied with a small amused smile. “So to speak.”

“Sounds… interesting.” Blake said, not exactly knowing what to say to Ruby.

“So how long till it attacks us?” Yang asked.

“When the Nevermore attacks us in about five seconds,” Ruby answered, and everyone looked up at the Nevermore which was circling them had stopped.

The Nevermore noticed the group was looking at it and quickly fired it feathers at them. Everyone quickly took off running, with Ruby dragging Jaune to his feet and past the “relic” stands handing him the other white rook piece.

Ruby and group heard the snapping of the Nevermore feathers and looked back. They sped up as they saw the Deathstalker going through the Nevermore feathers like toothpicks.

“Looks like you were right, Rubes,” Yang said.

“Kind of wishing I wasn’t.” Ruby joked.

The Nevermore noticed that its feathers were falling short of the group and decided that it could use the Deathstalker to its advantage by shot its feather in front of the group to slow it down. So the Nevermore quit firing its feathers and flew past the group before continuing its barrage of feather spears.

The group slid to a halt as the Nevermore’s feather impaled the ground in front of them. However they couldn’t stop fast enough as a feather was heading directly towards Weiss, but Weiss was still in the process of stopping and couldn’t avoid it in time. Right before the feather hit Weiss, Weiss felt something push her forward followed by the sound of the feather piercing flesh.

“RUBYYYYY!!!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Cliffhanger!!! And did anyone really think that Dr. Schwarz was going to give Jaune a parachute? Don't forget to comment and kudos.


	6. Chapter 6: Test part 2

“RUBYYYYY!!!” Yang shouted as the Nevermore feather pierced Ruby’s body.

Ruby’s body fell limp on the Nevermore feather with her eyes closed. Pyrrha gasped and covered her mouth in horror. Jaune closed his eyes and looked away. Nora and Ren stared wide-eyed in horror. Blake stared at Ruby in disbelief of what she just saw. While Weiss just stared at Ruby’s limp form impaled on the Nevermore feather feeling a mixture of emotions, ranging from anger to fear to guilt.

Ruby was limp for ten seconds with a trail of blood and saliva dripped from the corner of her lips, before her eyes shot open, her pupils constricted, but they slowly returned to normal. Ruby took in a shaky breath before she coughed up some blood.

“Yang, you guys need to leave. Now.” Ruby said hoarsely, reaching up and grabbing the Nevermore feather, which had impaled her just under her left collarbone, with her right hand.

Yang opened her mouth to say something, but Blake beat her to it. “No, we are not leaving you.”

Ruby shot Blake a glare that made her shrink back and hissed. “I wasn’t asking.”

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Yang put a hand on Blake’s shoulder, grabbing her attention, and with a broken smile, she said. “Ruby is stronger than she looks. She can take care of herself just fine.”

Blake didn’t know why, but even though Yang’s smile was broken, she could tell that Yang wholeheartedly believed every word she just said and had absolute confidence in her sister. She wanted to believe Yang was right about her sister, but she couldn’t leave someone as young as Ruby to fight off two massive Grimm, especially when she was as injured as she was. Blake looked at the others for some kind of guidance but saw the same look of conflict on their faces.

Blake looked back to Yang, who had a pleading look in her eyes. Blake sighed in defeat and asked Yang. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

Yang opened her mouth but was once again interrupted, except it was by Weiss this time instead of Blake. “You can’t seriously be considering leaving your sister here for the Grimm to kill!?”

“Weiss,” Ruby said weakly, drawing her attention. “Shut the fuck up and get going. I can do something about the Grimm, but I can’t do it with you guys in the area.”

“Well, you heard my sister. We need to move so she can take care of the Grimm.” Yang said quickly so that she wouldn’t get interrupted again.

The others reluctantly obeyed Yang and started jogging towards the cliff, leaving Ruby behind.

When they got out of her sight, Ruby reached down with her right hand and opened her lantern. Ruby’s pupils constricted again, and Ruby grabbed the Nevermore feather with her right hand and snapped it just before the point where it entered her body. Ruby stood up, pulling her body off the Nevermore feather and used her left hand to draw Door Knocker. Ruby then spun around and pointed it at the Deathstalker, which stopped its advance on Ruby. Ruby and the Deathstalker stared at each other, and Ruby heard a deep voice shout in her mind. “Kill them! Kill them!”

Ruby, compelled by the voice, pulled the trigger, and Door Knocker went off with a loud bang. Door Knocker sent the round into the Deathstalker’s skull, and the Deathstalker’s skull was much thicker than the thin metal of hull of a Bulldog, so the round exploded in the Deathstalker’s head, causing the round to explode inside its skull like a mini grenade.

While the Deathstalker’s head exploded the recoil of Door Knocker caused Ruby’s left collarbone to snap like a twig since it didn’t have the support of the muscles that the Nevermore feather took out. Ruby didn’t scream in pain or anything; she just looked at her arm that was hanging limply from her body by some muscle. Ruby took Door Knocker from her left hand in her right and ejected the empty casing. She then grabbed her right sleeve with her mouth and pulled on it until it tore. She removed three rounds from her leather ammo gauntlet and stored them in her mouth. Ruby loaded one of the rounds into Door Knocker with her mouth and looked at the Nevermore that was circling her.

Ruby raised Door Knocker and fired at the Nevermore. The Nevermore flinched away from the loud bang caused by Door Knocker and avoided the round. Ruby ejected the round and loaded the next one, again with her mouth. The Nevermore turned to face Ruby directly and sent a volley of feathers at Ruby, who stood still as the feathers landed all around her, but never hit her. Ruby aimed Door Knocker at the Nevermore again and fired. This time Ruby hit her target in where its left wing connected with the rest of its body, taking off the wing.

The Nevermore screeched as it fell to the ground, flapping its other wing trying to stay in the air. The giant Nevermore hit the ground with a loud thud, which shook the nearby ground. Ruby slowly walked up to the downed Nevermore, loading the last round in her mouth into Door Knocker. Ruby walked right up to the Nevermore, which laid on the ground unable to move, and pressed the barrel of Door Knocker against its Grimm mask. The Nevermore glared at Ruby while Ruby to started at it for a second, hearing the voice shout “Kill them,” before she pulled the trigger, causing the Nevermore’s head to explode.

Ruby calmly holstered Door Knocker and closed the lantern. Ruby’s eyes returned to normal, and she suddenly felt the pain of her injury, but she did not cry in pain or even flinch for that matter. Ruby simply sighed, as the pain had quit hurting really and was just something she was used to. She activated her semblance and took off after her sister and the others.

Over with Yang and the others; they heard the gunshots from Door Knocker and quickly turned their heads in the direction.

“What was that?” Blake asked, hearing the first shot.

“That would be Ruby taking care of things,” Yang replied calmly.

“What the hell is she doing?” Weiss asked when she heard the second.

“Honestly, I don’t really know,” Yang replied. “and I don’t really want to know.”

Yang wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t want know. The only times Yang has ever seen Ruby with an active lantern was during tests performed by Dr. Schwarz, except for the time Ruby lost her right arm.

“So let’s get back up the cliff so we can finish orientation,” Yang said and started walking again.

“What about your sister? She has to get there too.” Weiss asked.

“Knowing her, she’ll be waiting on us to arrive,” Yang replied with a small smile.

They continued their trek back to the starting pointing. When they arrived, they saw Ozpin, Glynda, Dr. Schwarz, and an unknown man in skinny black slacks, a white dress shirt with a black tie, and a black vest. The man stood as tall as Dr. Schwarz at 6’ 2” and looked to be in his mid-20’s, with black hair tied back.

“Hey, Walter, how’s it going? Didn’t know you were going to be here.” Yang said with a small smile.

The unknown man gave a bow and replied. “Hello, Ms. Xiao Long, it is going fine, thank you.”

Walter then turned to the others and introduced himself. “Hello. I am Walter Blackwell. Butler to Dr. Schwarz.”

“You have a butler?” Jaune asked, amazed.

“Did he not just say that?” Dr. Schwarz replied, pulling a cigar from a coat pocket. Dr. Schwarz cut off the tip off with a flick of the wrist, no one seeing the blade that did it, and brought it up to her mouth. When the cigar touched her lips, Walter was lighting it with a gold flip lighter. Dr. Schwarz took a puff of the cigar staring at Jaune, who shrank back slightly.

“I see you’ve picked up smoking again,” Glynda commented glancing at Dr. Schwarz.

“Fuck off.” Dr. Schwarz replied. “I never quit.”

Yang sensing the tension between the two said. “Uh, Ruby’s hurt and is going to need some medical attention.”

“I know. You were being watched the whole time.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Speaking of Ruby…” Dr. Schwarz said, then pointed behind the group of young hunters and huntress.

They turned around and their eyes widened in horror at the sight of Ruby’s left arm hanging by some muscle, her entire left side covered in her blood, a trail of blood coming from both sides of her mouth, and her usual pale white skin was even paler.

Yang rushed to envelop Ruby in a hug, but about a foot away from Ruby she suddenly felt herself restrained by some invisible force. Yang tried to move her arms when she saw the light reflect off of some kind of string that was wrapped around her arms and legs. Yang’s gaze, along with the others, tracked the strings back to their source, only to see Walter.

“I’m sorry, Miss Xiao Long, for restraining you, but I was worried you would aggravate young Miss Rose’s injuries.” Walter apologized, then flicked his wrist, releasing Yang.

“Right, sorry,” Yang said apologetically, blushing slightly.

Ruby walked up to Yang and gave her a one-armed hug around the waist using her good arm. “Better?”

“Hm.” Yang nodded and put a hand over Ruby’s while smiling lovingly at her.

Ozpin and Glynda looked at Dr. Schwarz, while the young hunters and huntresses looked at the scene, having a feeling that Yang’s loving smile was more than just sisterly love. Dr. Schwarz looked back and Ozpin and Glynda and whispered so that only they would hear. “I don’t deal with matters of love. You got a problem with it; you deal with it yourselves.”

“Does Tai or Qrow know about this?” Glynda asked.

“If they do, it isn’t because of me.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Sorry to interrupt this little moment of yours, but we should get Ruby some medical attention before she bleeds to death, or loses the arm.” Dr. Schwarz said aloud to everyone.

Dr. Schwarz’s words reminded Weiss of what Ruby did for her, which sent a new wave of guilt over her. Ruby removed her arm from Yang’s waist and let Walter carefully pick her.

“Walter, please take Ruby to the operating room and prep her. I’ll be there shortly.” Dr. Schwarz said.

“And if it happens?” Walter asked, cryptically.

“I’ll handle it.” Dr. Schwarz said with a glare.

“Of course. I meant no, disrespect.” Walter replied, bowing his head.

Walter turned and walked away with Ruby in his arms.

“Will Ruby be okay?” Weiss asked tentatively.

“I’m the best doctor ever to walk Remnant. If I can’t save her, then no one can.” Dr. Schwarz said, taking one last puff of her cigar before flicking it at Glynda.

Glynda swatted the cigar away and glared at Dr. Schwarz.

“I’m going to get going now. Don’t want my patient bleeding out on me now, do we?” Dr. Schwarz said, walking off.

After Dr. Schwarz was out of sight, Jaune asked. “I’m not the only one that is scared of her, right?”

“Trust me. It would be stupid not to.” Yang replied.

 


	7. Chapter 7: Medical talk

 

Yang, Weiss, and Blake were sitting in the infirmary beside an unconscious Ruby with Dr. Schwarz standing on the other side of Ruby’s hospital bed holding a scroll, with Ruby’s medical information on it.

“Is she going to be okay?” Weiss asked for the thousandth time since they got to the infirmary.

Dr. Schwarz snapped the stylus in her hand and looked at Weiss like she was going to kill them, as Weiss asked her the same question every minute. “Ask me that question one more time Miss Schnee, and I’ll put you in the bed next to her,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Weiss’s eyes widened and she shrank back in her chair. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

Walter appeared with a new stylus in hand. Dr. Schwarz gave Walter the broken stylus and used the new stylus to finish making notes on Ruby’s medical status. When Dr. Schwarz finished her notes, she turned to Walter and said, “Wake her up. I don’t want her sleep schedule getting messed up.”

“Of course, Madam,” Walter replied, and Dr. Schwarz walked off to her office.

“Dr. Schwarz there is something I want to talk to you about in private,” Yang said, standing up.

“Alright,” Dr. Schwarz replied, not stopping.

Yang took that as her saying, “come talk to me in my office,” so she followed Dr. Schwarz into her office.

When Yang entered Dr. Schwarz office, she locked the door, which caused Dr. Schwarz to raise an eyebrow. Yang saw it and responded with, “Weren’t you going to ask me to do it anyways?”

“Fair enough,” Dr. Schwarz replied, “What did you want to talk about, Yang?”

“My mother,” Yang replied instantly.

“Summer or Raven?” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Raven,” Yang said.

“Yes,” Dr. Schwarz said, “In fact, I had a drink with your mother last Thursday.”

“You know I’ve been looking for my mom for how long? And you’re just telling me you met up to have a drink with her last week!?” Yang shouted angrily, her eyes turning red.

Dr. Schwarz held up one finger, “First off, you never asked for my help.” She then held up a second finger, “Second, what did I have to gain from telling you? Nothing.” She then raised a third finger, “And thirdly, I don’t give a damn about your abandonment issues.”

All of the anger towards Dr. Schwarz vanished in Yang and was replaced by sorrow. Yang looked down at the ground and muttered. “Why did my mom leave me?”

“Don’t know, I never cared what she did,” Dr. Schwarz said and pulled out her scroll. “But I can give you her contact information.”

“I want to talk to her,” Yang said and reached for Dr. Schwarz scroll, but Dr. Schwarz pulled it out of reach.

“Not so fast, Blondie,” Dr. Schwarz said, “Did you really think I was going to just give you the information for free?”

Yang glared at Dr. Schwarz and asked, “What do you want for it?”

Dr. Schwarz smiled and said, “If you want this information, you have to do one of two things. You can either confess your love for Ruby, and I mean really confess where she knows exactly what kind of love you’re using, or you can cut your hair, shoulder length is the longest I’ll allow.” Dr. Schwarz pulled out a pair of scissors.

“And if I do neither?” Yang asked.

“Good luck finding your mother,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Yang looked down at the scissors that Dr. Schwarz put on the desk and picked it up. She stared at the scissors for a full minute before finally putting them down. “Keep the information, Dr. Schwarz. I don’t need it.”

Dr. Schwarz was taken back by Yang response and asked. “Why is that?”

“As much as I want to meet my mom, my relationship with Ruby is way more important and I won’t risk messing it up just because I’m in love with her. And my hair is the one thing that makes me feel connected to my mom, and I won’t give that up.” Yang replied.

“You’re an idiot,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Excuse me?” Yang replied, not expecting Dr. Schwarz’s response.

“You’re an idiot,” Dr. Schwarz repeated, “You’re too scared of a bad possibility to go after an amazing possibility. So why don’t you just grow a pair so you can have five wonderful years of love and happiness with your sister instead of five years of contentedness followed by a lifetime of regret.”

Yang gave Dr. Schwarz a strange look, which Dr. Schwarz saw and replied. “What? Even I’m not infallible, especially in the matters of love.”

“You know about love?” Yang asked, surprised.

“I don’t spend all my time in a lab,” Dr. Schwarz replied, “Now go tell your sister you love her so I can give you the information you want.”

“But she’s with my new teammates at the moment,” Yang replied.

“Then tell them you need a moment alone with your sister,” Dr. Schwarz said, “They’ll understand.”

Yang sighed and said, “Will you set up a meeting with my mom for me?”

“As soon as you tell her you love her,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Okay,” Yang said and started to leave Dr. Schwarz’s office while psyching herself up for her confession, but stopped. “Wait, did you say five years? Ruby told me she had ten.”

Dr. Schwarz sighed and pulled up an image on her scroll and showed it to Yang. “See this?”

Yang just saw some kind image of the inside of Ruby’s body and didn’t know what she was supposed to be seeing. “Uh, sure?”

Dr. Schwarz could easily tell Yang didn’t know what she was supposed to see and said. “It’s Ruby’s heart. It’s more damaged than previously thought, and it’s deteriorating at a quicker rate than expected. So instead of ten years, she has five, though if I'm completely honest, she might not even make it to graduation.”

Yang quickly rushed over the couple of feet to Dr. Schwarz desk and leaned in close to Dr. Schwarz. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I told Ruby a month ago; I assumed she told you.” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Yang backed away and asked, “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Yang, this is Ruby we’re talking about,” Dr. Schwarz said, “The only reason I have her weekly check-up is because she doesn’t tell me if she is ill, so she doesn’t mess up my results. She still doesn’t realize that however, she is feeling is the result I want. So she thinks she is doing you a favor by not telling you that her time was cut in half, and worrying you.”

“But this is the kind of stuff I need to know about!” Yang shouted, “I’m going to have a talk with Ruby right now.”

Yang rushed out of the room to go to Ruby.

Shortly after Yang left to Dr. Schwarz’s office, Ruby woke up.

“Good afternoon, Miss Rose. Did you sleep well?” Walter asked.

“If you can count a medically induced dreamless sleep well,” Ruby replied.

“Fair enough, madam,” Walter said, “I’ll leave you with your friends.”

Walter left the area, and Weiss was instantly all over. “I’m so sorry Ruby if it weren't for my negligence then you wouldn’t have been hurt. Are you feeling okay? Do I need to get you anything?”

Ruby pushed her back and said, “I’m fine, Weiss. You don’t need to get me anything. Besides this isn’t the first time that something like this has happened. I'm used to it.”

“How do you get used to being impaled by a Nevermore feather?” Blake asked.

“You don’t get to be a patient of Dr. Schwarz without going through quite a bit of stuff,” Ruby replied.

Blake and Weiss gave her a weird look, and Ruby continued. “Besides, my body is already pretty messed up, so I don’t really care.”

“What do you mean by that?” Weiss asked, concerned.

Ruby sighed and said, “Well, you’ll have to find out about this sooner or later, but my heart is pretty messed up from an accident that happened when I was eight, and Dr. Schwarz said that I’m not likely to make to past my twentieth birthday.”

Blake and Weiss looked at Ruby with sadness and pity. Ruby had to stop herself from telling them to quit it; she had seen it enough in Yang’s eyes after the accident.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Weiss said still looking at Ruby with pity and sadness.

“Me too,” Blake added on looking at Ruby the same way as Weiss.

Ruby was about to tell them to stop looking at her with pity when Yang appeared. “I need to talk to my sister. In private.” Yang said and shot Blake, and Weiss a ‘get lost’ look.

Blake and Weiss got the message and said a quick goodbye before leaving. Yang turned to Ruby and said. “Ruby, I love you…”

 


	8. Chapter 8: Confession

 “Ruby, I love you…” Yang said.

“I love you too, Yang,” Ruby replied with a smile.

Yang held up her hand to signal stop. “I wasn’t done and don’t interrupt me,” Yang said, “I don’t know how long I will have the courage to speak.”

Ruby nodded in understanding.

“Ruby, I love you, and I don’t mean in just sisterly love. I mean in a romantic love kind of way like a boy loves a girl, or in our case, if a girl loves a girl and they’re both lesbians. And I know how you feel about romantic relationships considering how you might not even make it to graduation.” Yang said.

“I have ten years, Yang, not four,” Ruby interrupted.

“Ruby, what did I say about interrupting me?” Yang asked.

“Sorry,” Ruby mumbled.

Yang nodded, then continued, “Dr. Schwarz told about the fact that you only have five years to live until your heart gives out, but knowing you, it might only be four if that. She also told me that she told you that a month ago and I am upset that you didn’t tell me, but that’s a conversation for another time. Anyways, I would rather have maybe four years with you as my lover and sister than just my sister, who I never confessed my love to, and live with that regret for the rest of my life. So will you please go out with me?” Yang bowed her head and put her hands together when she finished.

“Yang,” Ruby said in a way that told Yang her answer, “I’m sorry I can’t say yes and have to refuse.”

Yang wasn’t surprised by her response, in fact, she was expecting it, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

“Why?” Ruby repeated back.

“Yes. Why won’t you say yes?” Yang asked.

Ruby looked at her in disbelief. “There are multiple reasons why Yang,” Ruby said, “First off, we’re sisters Yang, it’s illegal for us to do that kind of stuff. Second, I only have five years to live if that. And I can’t put the burden of a relationship with a set timer on it that ends with me dying and you being alone, or if the lantern takes over then I could hurt or kill you, and I couldn’t live with myself if I did either of those. If my body was in good condition and I didn’t have the lantern, then those wouldn’t be a problem, but my body isn’t in good condition, and I do have the lantern. I just can’t do it. Thirdly, we can’t have kids together, and I know you want kids. You’ve wanted them ever since Mom passed away. And the fourth reason why we can’t be together is you’re way out of my league. I mean have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You’re really hot, Yang. You have a pretty face, long beautiful hair, big breasts, fit, nice figure, tight ass. You’re also outgoing, kind, smart, loving, and fun to be around. You’re everything someone could want in a girlfriend, but I’m none those things. I’m ugly, and my body is covered in horrible scars, nothing else about my appearance stands out at all. Also, I’m socially awkward, gun geek, scary, and dangerous to be around. We would never work out, plus I don’t even know if I’m into girls.”

Ruby was crying by the time she finished speaking. Yang’s hands were wrapped together in a tight fist, and she was on the verge of tears.

“That’s not true,” Yang said, “all those reasons are shit. What do you care if you break another law, especially if it’s just one about dating your sister? You and Dr. Schwarz break how many worse laws a day? I’m guessing several from what I know.”

Ruby didn’t say anything as she knew Yang was right.

Yang continued, “And do you think I care that our relationship will only last maybe four years? I know it ends with you dying, which I hate more than anything, but if I’m going to lose you, either way, I rather have those four years with you as my lover rather than just as my sister.”

Yang reached out and grabbed Ruby’s right hand with both of hers, as Ruby’s left arm was in a sling and her shoulder wrapped in bandages. Ruby looked at her hand wrapped in Yang’s and grimaced at it. She couldn’t feel anything in her right arm. Ruby tried to remove her hand from Yang’s hands but found that she couldn’t. “I’m sorry,” Yang whispered.

Ruby smiled softly, she knew Yang was apologizing for her right arm. Ruby sat up in her bed and used her left hand to unclip the sling. Ruby leaned closer to the Yang and placed her left hand on the back of Yang’s head, ignoring the pain from tearing a few stitches in the process, and pulled Yang into her chest. Yang let go of Ruby’s hand and wraps her arms around Ruby’s stomach, and she started to cry into Ruby chest. “It’s okay Yang. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you. I’m fine; I’m just glad you’re okay,” Ruby comforted Yang.

Yang let out a single chuckle and said, “That’s exactly what you said when you saved me from that Grimm Dragon and lost your arm. And I had my face buried in your chest crying like a baby while you comforted me, even though I’m the older sister and you had just lost your arm.”

Ruby smiled and replied, “You took care of me for two years while I was stuck in bed unable to move or do anything for myself, I was just returning a small portion of that.”

“When I saw you get eaten by the Grimm Dragon and thought you died it felt like my whole world fell apart, and my heart and soul shattered. It hurt so much I thought I was going to die. And I know that when you die, it’s going to hurt all over again,” Yang continued, “And I’ve already accepted that fact, which is why I want you to be my lover instead of just my sister since it’s going to hurt either way.”

Ruby pushed Yang’s head from her chest and saw Yang’s red puffy eyes. “Yang, I get what you are saying, and I can’t really argue with you as you make some good points, but I still can’t give you kids like you want. Hell, I don’t have a womb since that piece of shrapnel from that IED tore through it. You’re still way out of my league, and I still don’t even know if I’m into girls.”

Yang glared at Ruby as she knew Ruby was grasping at straws at this point. “Ruby, you and I both know those reasons are still shit,” Yang shot back. “And I don’t care if I can have kids as long as I have you.”

Yang continued, “Also, I’m out of your league? If anything you are out of my league. Sure, I might have a hot body, but your body is nothing to sneeze at either. Your body might not be hot like mine, but you are really cute. And I don’t mean cute in the way a little kid looks, but in the way a grown woman looks cute. As for your scars,” Yang blushed a bit, “I think they make you look really badass and sexy.”

Ruby looked at Yang wide-eyed and asked, “Really?”

Yang blushed deeper and nodded. “Yeah, your scars show just how much you have been through, and how you are still able to smile your gorgeous smile even though most wouldn’t be able to after what you’ve been through. You’re an amazing person, Ruby, and I don’t want you to think otherwise.”

Ruby blushed and said, “Thanks,”

Yang grew a sultry smile and said, “And as for whether or not you’re into girls, or at least into me, I got an idea on how to test that.”

Yang shrugged off her jacket and tossed it onto a nearby chair, revealing her low-cut yellow crop top and a six pack of abs. Yang then climbed onto Ruby’s bed and straddled her waist. “What are you doing?” Ruby asked.

Yang gently put a finger to Ruby’s lips and shushed her. “Shh, just relax and enjoy.”

Yang took her finger away from Ruby’s lips and removed her crop top, revealing her large E-cup breasts. “Looks like I forgot to put a bra on today,” Yang said jokingly when she saw Ruby blush.

Yang grabbed Ruby’s left hand and lifted it up until she saw a little twitch of pain from Ruby. Yang stopped lifting Ruby’s hand and leaned in until her right breast rested in Ruby’s hand. Ruby felt the soft, warm skin of Yang’s breast and couldn’t help but squeeze it, feeling how soft they were.

When Ruby squeezed Yang’s breast, Yang let out a moan, which surprised Ruby and caused her to remove her hand. Yang quickly stopped her hand, “Please, don’t stop,” Yang said looking at Ruby in yearning.

Ruby put her hand back on Yang’s breast and squeezed. Yang moaned again and leaned down till her face was only an inch away from Ruby’s, using her arms to support herself, to keep from aggravating Ruby’s injury. Yang looked into Ruby’s eyes and whispered, “I’ve wanted to do this for the longest time.”

Yang closed her eyes and touched her lips to Ruby’s. Ruby’s eyes widened slightly at the kiss before they slowly started to close. Ruby could taste the strawberry lip balm Yang always used, and clumsily licked Yang’s bottom lip. Despite Ruby’s clumsy lick of her lip, Yang still moaned into the kiss as Ruby subconsciously squeezed her breast more. Yang playfully bit her lower lip and tugged on it; her’s was a lot smoother than Ruby’s. Ruby left her lips slightly apart, and Yang slipped tongue inside Ruby’s mouth. Ruby was slightly surprised by Yang’s tongue entering her mouth and moaned as she felt Yang’s tongue explore her mouth. Ruby tried to wrap her tongue around Yang’s, but ended up doing some kind of awkward wrestling.

Yang stopped the kiss, panting, and Ruby said, “I’m sorry if I’m a bad kisser.”

Yang smiled at Ruby and said, “It’s okay. It was our first kiss, after all, some clumsiness is allowed.” Yang smile then grew sultrious again, “I’m sure with a little practice, we can get real good.”

Ruby smiled back and purposely squeezed Yang’s breast a couple of times. Yang moaned and asked, “So you are into girls?”

“I don’t know for sure if I’m into girls, but I do know I’m into you,” Ruby replied.

Yang giggled and kissed Ruby again, this one only lasting a couple of seconds. When they broke the kiss, Yang asked, “So, does this mean you’re my girlfriend now?”

“You do realize that if anyone other than Dr. Schwarz finds out about this, we could get into some serious trouble? And Dad will more than likely separate us…permanently,” Ruby said.

“Yes, I am aware of the risks, Ruby,” Yang replied, “I’ve been over this a million times in my head. I know and have considered every risk, and I’m willing to take each one to be with you.”

Ruby smiled and buried her face in Yang’s cleavage, “Thank you, Yang.”

“Like my tits, Rubes?” Yang asked, smiling.

“They’re like smooth, soft strawberry pillows,” Ruby replied into Yang’s cleavage.

“I took great care of myself for you, and used strawberry scent and flavored products because I know they are your favorite,” Yang replied.

Yang then felt Ruby painfully twist one of her nipples causing her scream in pain and surprise while pulling away from Ruby. Yang then covered her chest and asked, “What was that for?”

“Yang, I don’t want you centering your life around me like you did when I was bedridden,” Ruby replied, “I don’t want to define your life.”

Yang grabbed Ruby’s left hand and said, “Ruby, you don’t define my life, and I know you don’t want me to. You made that rather clear when you were bedridden. And I will admit I did center my life around you when you were bedridden, but I promised I would stop centering my life around you did I not?”

“You did,” Ruby said, looking down at her lap.

“And I did do it, but some of the stuff I did while my life was centered around you just became a habit that I liked doing, like using strawberry scented shampoo and lotions, or taking great care of my body to catch your attention. Now I do those things because I like strawberry scented shampoo and lotions and I take care of my body because it makes me feel good,” Yang replied.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby replied with a pout.

“It’s fine, just next time you twist my nipples don’t twist them so hard, okay?” Yang said with a wink.

Ruby smiled and said, “I will remember that.”

Ruby and Yang then heard someone clear their throat, and Yang spun around to see Walter’s silhouette on the other side of some curtains. “Sorry to intrude on your moment, but your teammates are getting a bit restless,” Walter said.

Yang sighed and got off of Ruby and said, “Alright, I’ll get going then.”

“When am I being discharged?” Ruby asked.

“Dr. Schwarz said you are free to go now, but I’ll have to repair your stitches first,” Walter replied.

Yang put on her crop top and jacket and then kissed Ruby. “I’ll be waiting for you outside with the others.”

Yang pulled open the curtains revealing Walter, who bowed and said, “Congratulations on your confession, Miss Xiao Long.”

“Thanks,” Yang said, then turned to Ruby, “Also, movies this weekend?”

“It’s a date,” Ruby replied, smiling.

 


	9. Chapter 9: Nightmare

_Weiss watched as Ruby got impaled by the Nevermore feather and Ruby screamed in pain._

_“Ruby!” Weiss cried, and the whole world froze except Ruby and her._

_Weiss rushed over to Ruby and knelt down next to her. Weiss noticed that Ruby wasn’t moving and started to shake her. “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, can you hear me?” Weiss said._

_“…you,” Ruby said, her voice barely a whisper._

_Weiss let out a sigh of relief and said, “Thank Gods you’re okay.”_

_“It should have been you,” Ruby said a little louder._

_“What?” Weiss asked thinking she didn’t hear Ruby right._

_Ruby looked up at Weiss, and grabbed her shirt, and pulled her close. “It should have been you,” Ruby said stared hauntingly into Weiss’s eyes._

_Weiss’s eyes widened in fear, and she pulled out of Ruby’s grasp. Weiss backed away from Ruby but wound up tripping over her own feet and falling onto her butt. Ruby ripped herself off of the Nevermore feather, nearly ripping her arm off in the process, and slowly walked towards her. Weiss crawled backwards in fear until she felt her back hit something. She looked back to see what she hit only to find a giant rock wall._

_Ruby pointed at Weiss with her good hand and shouted angrily, “You did this to me! This is your fault! You should have died, but I’m going to correct that mistake!” Ruby pulled out Crimson Rose._

_Weiss backed into the rock wall and started pleading, “I’m sorry! I’ll make it up to you! Please, I don’t want to die!”_

_Ruby kept getting closer, ignoring Weiss’s pleas._

_“Weiss,” Ruby got closer to Weiss._

_“Weiss,” Ruby reached Weiss._

_“Weiss!” Ruby raised Crimson Rose._

_Ruby swung Crimson Rose down, and Weiss let out a scream._

Weiss’s eyes snapped open, and she was looking at the wall of her dorm room and her left cheek stung. Weiss looked to her left to see Ruby, Yang, and Blake by her bedside. they were all wearing their pajamas, except Ruby’s top was long sleeved.

“What are you all doing? Shouldn’t you guys be asleep?” Weiss asked.

“We were, but you had a nightmare about Ruby blaming you for her injury and her killing you, and you screamed in your sleep, waking us up,” Yang said, “And before you ask, I had similar dreams after Ruby’s accident.”

Weiss lowered her head and said, “I really am sorry Ruby, and I will make it up to you I swear.”

Ruby laughed and said, “Relax Weiss, I don’t blame you. I pushed you out of the way, Weiss. If I didn’t want to get hurt, I would have let you get impaled by the Nevermore feather instead of me. And you don’t have to make it up to me, if anything, I owe you one.”

“Why would you owe me one?” Weiss asked confused.

Ruby smiled blushing slightly and rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Well, because of my injury a girl I’ve known for a while now confessed that she had feelings for me. And now I have a date with her this weekend; we’re going to the movies.”

“You’re a lesbian?” Blake asked surprised by the information. ‘Damn, I can’t believe I couldn’t tell Ruby was a lesbian like me.’

Ruby blushed deeper and replied, “I can’t really say that for sure, but I do know that I’m into my girlfriend.”

‘Okay, that explains why my gaydar was off,’ Blake thought, ‘it's a shame she’s taken now though, she is really cute.’

Yang blushed slightly and smiled. “And what is this mystery girl’s name?”

“Lucy,” Ruby lied smoothly, having already made a fictional girlfriend as a cover for Yang.

“Oh, really? It was Lucy that confessed?” Yang said acting surprised, “I always thought she had the hots for you, but never the guts.”

“Yeah, it was a surprise to me too,” Ruby replied smiling, “but I’m glad she did.”

Ruby realized they had gotten a bit off topic and said, “Anyways enough about me and my girlfriend, let’s get back to Weiss and her nightmares.”

“I’m fine, Ruby. Don’t worry; it was just a nightmare,” Weiss replied. “Besides we have our first day of classes tomorrow, and you need your sleep too.”

“Alright,” Ruby said and pulled up a chair next to Weiss’s bed and put her feet up on her desk, “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“Ruby, you need to sleep in a bed not a chair,” Yang said.

“I’m fine, Yang. Not the first time I’ve slept in a chair, and it’s not going to be the last,” Ruby replied.

“You can wait till Weiss is asleep before you go back to your bed, understand?” Yang said.

“Hey, I’m the team leader, shouldn’t I be the one saying stuff like that?” Ruby retorted.

“I know that, and I’m really proud of you, but I’m still your older sister,” Yang replied, “So I still have ruling over your health.”

Ruby groaned and said, “Fine, after Weiss falls asleep I’ll go back to my bed.”

“Good, Ruby,” Yang said and kissed Ruby on the forehead before heading back to her bed.

“Goodnight, you two,” Blake said going back to her bed, “hope you have good dreams, Weiss.”

“Thanks, you too,” Weiss replied.

Weiss laid back down in her bed and whispered to Ruby, “I never did thank you for saving me from the Nevermore feather, did I?”

Ruby smirked. “Nope, only that you would make it up to me and that you are sorry.”

“Thank you, Ruby,” Weiss whispered blushing slightly.

“Anytime, Weiss,” Ruby replied, “Now go to sleep I don’t need to be up all night because you won’t go to sleep.”

Weiss playfully slap Ruby’s leg and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Goodnight, Ruby.”

“Night, Weissy,” Ruby replied.

“Don’t start,” Weiss whispered, “I may owe you one and be your teammate, but we’re not friends.”

“Yet,” Ruby replied said smiling.

Weiss didn’t say anything but smiled as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Ruby waited till she was sure everyone was asleep before she grabbed Door Knocker and the lantern before leaving through the window. Ruby headed towards the highest point around, which was Ozpin’s tower. Ruby used her semblance to climb Ozpin’s tower and went up to the roof. Ruby didn’t check to see if Ozpin was in his office or not, just as long as she was as far away from the ground as possible.

Ruby sat down on the roof and looked at the full moon. Ruby held up the lantern and glared at it. “I hate you,” Ruby told the lantern.

“Then throw it away. I’m sure that a fall from this height will break it,” Ruby heard someone say from behind her.

Ruby recognized the voice instantly and smiled. “I would, but then I might die or get possessed by the entity inside,” Ruby replied.

“That would be a shame,” Dr. Schwarz said, sitting down next to Ruby, and took a puff of her cigar.

“Is that a good cigar or a bad cigar?” Ruby asked.

“It’s a cigar to smoke a cigar,” Dr. Schwarz replied and pulled another cigar out of her inside coat pocket, “Want one?”

Ruby shot Dr. Schwarz a ‘really?’ glare. “You know I’m underage right?”

“How many worse laws a day do we break again?” Dr. Schwarz asked rhetorically, “I forget.”

Ruby laughed and said, “That’s one of the reasons Yang gave for being my girlfriend despite the fact that it is illegal.”

“Considering that the lantern is in violation of five, possibly six, laws and you using it is in violation of damn near every human rights law there is if not all of them, your sister has a very good point.” Dr. Schwarz replied, “Congrats by the way, and don’t let Ozpin or Glynda find out. They will force you and Yang to separate. Ozpin will do it because he cares about this school’s reputation, along with the Rose and Xiao Long family name’s reputation, and he won’t risk tainting any of that with an incest scandal. Glynda will do it because she hates me, is a stickler for the rules, and she shares the same reasons as Ozpin.”

“But, don’t they do shady stuff too?” Ruby said.

“Sadly they do it for the sole purpose of helping people,” Dr. Schwarz replied, “So we can’t touch it, and if we go public with it, they will with what they have on me and you. And it will destroy everything you have sacrificed for. You won’t lose just Yang; you will lose everything you have. This isn’t like Yang being at Signal and you in my lab; the risks are a lot higher here.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m with Yang, and I agreed to it, accepting all the risks that came with it knowingly or unknowingly,” Ruby replied.

Dr. Schwarz smiled and said, “Good answer. If you told me you were going to break up with her, I would have thrown you off this tower.”

Ruby giggled and said, “Good thing I answered correctly then.”

“Yes it is,” Dr. Schwarz said and handed Ruby the cigar she took out earlier, “Now shut up and smoke.”

“But smoking is dangerous, and Yang will kill me if I do,” Ruby replied.

“Then blame it on me, and tell her I forced you. And I’m only letting you have this one so it shouldn’t do any real damage to your body, which might I remind you is already damaged.” Dr. Schwarz retorted.

“Why do you want me to smoke a cigar so badly?” Ruby asked.

“Because I want you to experience it at least once before you die.” Dr. Schwarz replied, “And because your mother tried to get me to quit smoking and I want a little payback.”

“What exactly was your relationship with my mom?” Ruby asked, “You make it sound like you guys were close, but you don’t talk about her a lot.”

“Well if you want to know about that then how about we make a deal?” Dr. Schwarz asked.

“What kind of deal?” Ruby asked skeptically.

“As long as you smoke the cigar, I will answer any question you have about you mother, and you have to take at least one puff between each question,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Will you answer honestly?” Ruby asked.

“As you would expect,” Dr. Schwarz answered.

“That’s the best I can ask for I guess,” Ruby pouted slightly.

“Correct,” Dr. Schwarz replied and flicked open her lighter, lighting it.

Ruby sighed and held the cigar to the flame. “Now what exactly was your relationship with my mom?” Ruby asked.

“Puff first,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ruby glared at Dr. Schwarz and took an angry puff of the cigar, which Ruby soon realized was a bad idea as it sent her into a coughing fit. “How can you smoke this stuff it taste awful?” Ruby asked.

“You won’t be coughing by the end of that cigar,” Dr. Schwarz replied, “And that did count as a question.”

Ruby took another puff of the cigar, which still caused her to cough but it was significantly less than before. “Did my mother ever smoke a cigar or cigarette?” Ruby asked.

“I got her to do it a couple of times, but she only ever did it to get me to do something she really wanted to do, but I really didn’t,” Dr. Schwarz answered.

Ruby took her puff of the cigar, not coughing this time. “Okay, what exactly was your relationship with my mom?”

“It was a complicated one,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“What does that mean?” Ruby asked taking her mandatory puff.

“I’d rather not get into it,” Dr. Schwarz answered.

Ruby sighed, taking another puff, “Okay, when did you and my mom meet?”

“Here at Beacon. I was in my second year, and she was in her first. Second years had combat training with first years, and she managed to actually tie me in combat,” Dr. Schwarz said, “And I was undefeated, with no one knocking me below 70% aura, until her.”

“Wow, my mom really was a badass then huh?” Ruby asked.

“You forgot to puff,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ruby rolled her eyes and took another puff.

“Good girl, and yes your mother was an incredibly strong person with a stubborn streak that rivals mine,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Wow, that’s one hell of a compliment coming from you,” Ruby replied.

“Your mother earned it, and more,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

“Wow, I thought my mom was just a great huntress and a super mom, but to find out that you hold her in the highest regards, when you don’t hold anyone near there, means my mom must have been a very special person,” Ruby said.

“She is one of a kind, and there is no one else like her,” Dr. Schwarz said, “Though you are relatively close.”

“My dad always did say we were a lot alike,” Ruby said, “But now my question, did you love her?”

Dr. Schwarz eyes widened, and she looked at Ruby in shock.

“I may have avoided romantic relationships because of my life span and lantern issue,” Ruby said, “but that doesn’t mean I didn’t read every single book you gave me, including the romantic novels, several times. And every time someone said it was a complicated relationship, they loved someone, but something was blocking them from admitting it. Now, did you love my mother?”

“I really need to give you a lot more credit than I have,” Dr. Schwarz said, “How did you not notice Yang was in love you until today, well yesterday?”

“She’s my sister and I thought she was just being overprotective because of my body and she was worried,” Ruby replied. “Now answer my question.”

“While I do have to give you a lot more credit than before I don’t have to answer since you cigar burned out before you asked I don’t have to,” Dr. Schwarz replied smugly.

Ruby grabbed the remnants of the cigar from her lips and saw that it had burned out. “That’s not fair,” Ruby groaned.

Dr. Schwarz chuckled and said, “I may not answer your question, but I will tell you this, Ruby. Your mother was my closest and longest friend, and I did something really stupid that messed that up. I won’t say what it is, but I will say that it was the biggest mistake I have ever made, and I never got the courage to fix. And to be completely honest I didn’t feel like I deserved the forgiveness of your mother for my mistake.”

“Wow,” Ruby said stunned, “What did you do that was so bad?”

“Did you not hear me say ‘I won’t say what it is’?” Dr. Schwarz snapped back.

“Right, sorry,” Ruby mumbled, “But I’m pretty sure my mother would forgive you for whatever it is that you did.”

“I know she would, but that doesn’t mean I deserve it,” Dr. Schwarz replied sadly.

“Okay, are you dying?” Ruby asked, “Because you are being really open right now and I’m a little scared.”

Dr. Schwarz laughed and said, “Walter thought it would be a good idea if I showed you that I did care for you as something more than just a numbered test subject as a reward for making it into Beacon. And because he thinks it’s bad for my health if I continued to treat you like you were just a test subject since I was close to your mother.”

“And you listened to Walter?” Ruby asked.

“I designed Walter to be more useful than just a butler and bodyguard, Ruby,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Fair point,” Ruby said, “So I shouldn’t expect something like this again?”

“Maybe if you get married we can do this again,” Dr. Schwarz answered.

“So never,” Ruby replied.

“You never know, Ruby,” Dr. Schwarz replied, “Yang might be waiting on one knee with a ring in hand when you get back to your dorm.”

“Gods I hope not. I’m nowhere close to being ready for marriage; I’m barely comfortable dating Yang as is,” Ruby said.

“I’ll make sure to pass that on to Yang if she brings the topic up,” Dr. Schwarz replied.

Ruby noticed the sun was coming up and said, “Hey, the sun is coming up.”

“Yap, another day has passed, and a new one has arrived,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“And another day I have fought off the will-o’-the-wisp,” Ruby said.

“The sunrise isn’t half bad here,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Yeah, it’s really pretty,” Ruby replied, “though not as pretty as the sunrise at your lab.”

“Why do you think I picked that location to put my lab?” Dr. Schwarz asked.

“Away from people, fairly easy to defend, a variety of different terrains nearby to test out your inventions in,” Ruby answered.

“All true and there are other locations I had in mind, but I choose that location because of the sunrise,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“That’s very cheesy of you, Doc,” Ruby said.

“I’m still human, 601, and my interests do expand past just research,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Ouch, I guess the open you is now closed?” Ruby replied.

“Yes, now get back to your dorm room before Ozpin gets into his office or one of your teammates wake up,” Dr. Schwarz said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Ruby replied and left the roof.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, so I figured I would update with two chapters. And we are all now caught up with the previous version, so expect new chapters soon. Also, I made a cover image for this story!!!


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